Watch Out for New, Elaborate Scams

Pig Butchering

One of the fastest-growing scams in the world, pig butchering alludes to the practice of fattening a hog before slaughter.

12% of Americans who have used a dating app have experienced pig butchering. These schemes often involve cryptocurrency, which is difficult to trace and recover.

Scammers will craft elaborate fake identities to establish romantic or emotional connections with victims. They send messages that make them seem like nice people in order to build trust. As trust is established, the scammer introduces the victim to a fraudulent investment scheme, promising significant returns in a short period.

Unbeknownst to the victims, the scammers control the websites they use to showcase the success of their amazing investment opportunity. Once a substantial amount has been collected, or when victims attempt to withdraw funds, scammers become unreachable, delete their online presence, or create new identities, leaving the victims with no way to recover their funds.

Also be wary of sharing information in group chats. Scammers create fake investment groups to identify and target potential victims more efficiently. These groups often contain fake profiles to simulate authenticity and community. The scammers then transition to one-on-one chats, often masquerading as secretaries or assistants, to guide the victim through the investment process.

Scammers are skilled at developing fake brokerage websites and mobile applications to add legitimacy to their scheme, making it difficult for victims to distinguish them from genuine platforms.

Perhaps you received a text message that seems intended for somebody else. After you tell the sender they have the wrong number, the person continues the conversation. Despite persistent conversations, the mysterious person will only communicate via messages—never phone or video calls. It’s best to treat online relationships, wrong number text messages, and requests for funds with suspicion.

If you do meet someone online, always take things slowly until you truly know the person—which usually involves a few in-person meetings. If you have suspicions, it’s best to end contact and block the person. If things seem too good to be true, they generally are. Break off all contact with these scammers.

AI Audio Scams

Scammers are becoming adept at creating fake AI phone calls.

Deepfake audio clones aren’t just used to imitate celebrities and politicians, like the recent phone calls that used AI tools to sound like Joe Biden and discourage people from going to the polls. If you have created TikTok or YouTube video, that content can be used to clone your voice. The voicemail message on your smartphone could also be used to replicate your voice.

A caller claiming to be a friend or family member will urgently ask for your assistance and money. The call may even appear to be coming from the phone of that friend or family member. Any time you receive a call asking for money or personal information, ask if you can call them back.

Another great way to detect if a call is from a family member is to agree on a safe word that only they know about. Come up with a word or a phrase they can say in order to prove you aren’t talking to a scammer. You can also ask them a questions that only that friend can answer. Don’t be fooled, stay safe out there!

Facebook Scams

Those attractive people you don’t know who pop into your feed to tell you how wonderful you are, or send you friend requests, are bots.

A bot is a piece of software designed to post automatic comments and send friend requests. They can even have conversations with you. These are run by international criminal enterprises.

The male bots usually have English language names for both the first and last names. For example, Bob Michaels, William Emmanuel, etc. The male profiles generally feature photos of older men wearing elite uniforms from the Army, Navy, or Marines. They will often use the red tulip emoji in their interactions with you if you are female. Although less common, there are bots targeting LGBT people, too.

Once the bot runs through a normal sequence of interactions with you and assesses that you are a good mark for their con, a human will take over and talk to you for months, showering you with loving attention before defrauding you of money.

Always look for the verified badge next to company names on social media. That means it’s an authentic page. There are any number of free offers and sales that direct you to websites that steal your information, or sell you products you will never receive.

90% of the international accounts that friend you want your money via sales, immigration help, gifts, jobs, or charities. Sadly, they haven’t hunted you down because you are so amazing.

Did you get a Facebook message saying that you have violated their terms of service? Such messages are signed, “The Facebook Team,” or “Facebook Security,” and contain links to fake Facebook pages.

Do not click any links in messages that threaten to close your Facebook account. If you do click the link, do not provide any information. Instead, look closely at the url in the address bar. It’s a scam whose purpose is to collect credit card and login information that can be used to steal your identity.

Messages seemingly sent by a friend, and beginning with the phrase, “Look who died, in an accident I think you know him, so sorry,” and containing a link are phishing scams. Delete those messages without clicking the link. Those links will take you to a page that looks like Facebook’s log-in page. Once you enter your username and password, a scammer will take over your Facebook account.

Invoice Scams & Other Nonsense

Notices sent to your email address about Netflix billing issues or an enormous McAfee virus protection renewal charge, are also scams.

Never click any links in those types of messages. Instead, go directly to the company’s website to check.

Be wary of emails that ask you to update your account, tell you to open an attachment, or warn you to take some other urgent action.

Completing surveys from messages that claim to offer cash rewards will never pay out. Don’t waste your time.

The most outrageously beautiful pictures of houses, exotic animals, people, sculptures, and Baobab trees with enormous tulip blossoms are made by AI. AI images are becoming more realistic every day. Always be skeptical. Pay close attention to the details. AI is really bad at hands, ears, and text. Words on ball caps and signs will be garbled or nonsensical.

Check www.snopes.com for social media scams.