Friendship / Social Media Scam

**Pig Butchering Scams Overview** "Pig Butchering" is a romance/investment scam that typically begins with unsolicited text messages appearing to be sent to the wrong person, establishing false familiarity and trust. Scammers then gradually build relationships with victims and persuade them to invest money in fraudulent cryptocurrency or trading schemes, often resulting in significant financial losses. The scam gets its name from the process of cultivating ("fattening") victims before extracting ("butchering") their money.

Romance scams are targeting hundreds of people in Middle Tennessee, with scammers building trust through daily messaging on platforms like LinkedIn before directing victims to invest money in fraudulent schemes involving gold trading, banking, finance, and cryptocurrency. Once victims send money to these scammers, recovery is nearly impossible. The schemes typically involve scammers posing as trustworthy individuals from overseas who gradually shift conversations from personal matters to investment opportunities.

The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on romance confidence scams (also called "pig butchering"), examining this multi-billion dollar fraud scheme that targets everyday Americans. The scam operates by building trust with victims over weeks or months before exploiting that confidence to extract money, with text-based contact attempts increasing dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Romance scams involve online "friends" or romantic interests who request money using fabricated urgent reasons to manipulate victims into sending funds via gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency. If an online contact asks for money, especially with instructions on how to send it through these methods, it is a scam and should be reported to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov immediately.

The Better Business Bureau has identified 12 common holiday scams targeting consumers during the festive season, including puppy scams where fake pet listings trick buyers into sending money without receiving animals, and counterfeit goods scams offering suspiciously low-priced name-brand items on online marketplaces. Consumers are advised to verify purchases in person when possible, avoid sending money to unknown sellers, and be cautious of deals that seem too good to be true during the holidays when scammers exploit seasonal distractions and increased online shopping activity.

The FBI is seeking additional victims of Aurora Phelps, a 43-year-old Las Vegas woman arrested in Mexico and charged with a years-long romance scam targeting older men between 2021 and 2022. Using aliases on dating apps like Tinder and OkCupid, Phelps lured at least four elderly victims, accessed their bank accounts, and allegedly drugged one victim into a coma while three others died; she faces 21 counts including bank fraud, identity theft, and kidnapping, with one charge involving transporting a heavily sedated victim across the U.S.-Mexico border in a wheelchair.

Peach Tree City Police identified cryptocurrency ATMs as the leading cause of fraud in their jurisdiction, with victims losing $2 million in just eight months of 2024. Scammers deceived residents into depositing cash into cryptocurrency accounts via ATMs located in stores and gas stations, often wiping out life savings and retirement accounts. Police emphasized that any unsolicited request to use a crypto or Bitcoin ATM is a scam, and warn this problem is occurring in communities nationwide.

Singapore recorded over 46,000 scam cases in 2023, resulting in losses of 651.8 million Singapore dollars (approximately 484 million U.S. dollars), a slight decrease from 2022. The most prevalent scam types were job scams, e-commerce scams, fake friend call scams, phishing scams, and investment scams. Police conducted 24 enforcement activities that led to the investigation of more than 9,600 money mules and scam suspects.

In 2023, Singapore reported a record high of 46,563 scam cases with victims losing $651.8 million, marking a 46.8 percent increase in cases from 2022 despite public warnings. Job scams were the most prevalent fraud type, followed by e-commerce scams (which more than doubled), with 73 percent of victims aged below 50, contrary to assumptions that elderly people are most vulnerable. The police attributed most scams to organized criminal groups operating transnationally and noted that 19 scam syndicates were dismantled in 2023 through international cooperation.

In 2023, scam cases in Singapore surged 49.6 percent to 50,376 total cases, with Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram identified as the primary platforms used by scammers to contact victims. Job scams became the most prevalent type with 9,914 cases (up 52.7 percent from 2022), followed by investment scams, while adults aged 30-49 represented the largest victim demographic; notably, despite increased case numbers, total losses decreased slightly to S$651.8 million (down 1.3 percent) and average loss per case dropped 32.8 percent to S$13,999.