- Pig butchering scams surged by 40% in 2024, spreading globally and targeting crypto users with deceptive strategies.
- Fraudsters are shifting to quicker, smaller scams, like fake job offers, alongside traditional “long con” tactics.
- Crypto drainers and phishing scams have increased dramatically, with a 170% rise in stolen funds and 15,000% rise in phishing.
The crypto related scams especially the one known as the ‘pig butchering fraud’ have increased in 2024. Official data reveals that the incidents have gone up by 40% compared to last year, all this causing concern to authorities and individuals using cryptocurrencies. These types of scams, which originated in Southeast Asia, are gradually penetrating other areas of the world, so they pose a global threat.
Pig Butchering Fraud Adaptations
Pig butchering scams involve the process of luring people into paying large amounts of money to the scammers and emptying their accounts. Instead, the number is used by the fraudster to get hold of the victim’s money, making them a cash cow for the culprit.
However, it has been noticed that fraudsters are adopting multiple ways of operation as they change their strategies. According to Chainalysis, fraudsters are increasingly using faster an smaller frauds, such as fake employment opportunities like work from home or getting a job that may need a deposit to be paid.
Source: Chainalysis
These new tactics have worked well, so the fraudsters are able to get high returns while covering a wider audience. However, the ‘long con’ is still used but together with these faster cons. The latter leads to more people’s becoming fraud targets of relatively more frequent but less noticeable frauds.
Surge in Crypto Scams
Chainalysis has identified increased trend in the financial aspect of these cons in the market. Though the rates of the pig butchering fraud have risen with deposits by 210% this year, the average amount defrauded from an individual has dropped by 55%. This means that scammers are interested in the quantity rather than a quality of targets offering them enormous amounts of money instead of investing in one person or company.
Other types of crypto fraud have also been on the rise, also touching on the necessity of contributing to developing more effective measures to prevent these activities. Crypto criminals that operate directly by stealing from the victims’ accounts had a 170% increase in their revenues from March to April.
Furthermore, traditional phishing and advance fee fraud, which usually go after users with large quantum of cryptocurrency, surged by 15,000%. Attacks have become more sophisticated; one of these calamitous attack transpired in May which contributed to the rise of such fraud.
Chainalysis also discovered that Huione Guarantee which is another online platform affiliated to the Huione Group is behind these scams. As for now, it has handled over $70 billion worth of cryptocurrency transactions since 2021, and analysts have associated the platform with funding of pig butchering frauds and other frauds.
As these scams progress, users are encouraged not to let their guard down. The scammers are becoming more creative in their strategies as the number of people investing in the crypto space expands, which is why anyone dealing with crypto tokens should be well equipped and be very attentive.