Targeting unemployed youth, housewives, students and those in need, a new cyber fraud known as the “pig butchering scam” or “investment scam” has come to light. The people who get entrapped in the scam, lose large sums of money on a daily basis, the Union Home Ministry said in its latest annual report. According to the report, cybercriminals have been using Google services platforms to initiate these crimes.
“Google Advertisement platform provides a convenient facility for targeted advertisement from across the border. This scam, known as 'Pig Butchering Scam' or 'Investment Scam' is a global phenomenon and involves large-scale money laundering and even cyber slavery," it said.
What is the ‘pig butchering scam’?
The pig butchering scam, believed to have started in China in 2016, targets gullible individuals with whom cyber criminals build trust over time, ultimately convincing them to invest in cryptocurrency or some other lucrative scheme when their money is stolen.
The analogy to pig butchering comes from the fattening of swine before their slaughter. To curb the menace, the Home Ministry's Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has partnered with Google to share the threat intelligence for urgent action periodically.
The cybercriminals are using sponsored Facebook to launch illegal lending applications in India, the report said. "Such links are proactively identified and shared with Facebook, along with Facebook pages for necessary action," it said.
These are some of the platforms used by scammers. Be aware!
WhatsApp remains the biggest social media platform that is possibly misused by cyber criminals in India, the report said. The data published in the report on "cybercrime complaints where Big Tech platforms have been misused" shows that 14746 complaints were related to WhatsApp, 7651 against Telegram, 7152 against Instagram, 7051 against Facebook, and 1135 against YouTube till March 2024.
"Big techs play an important role in proactive identification and action on cybercriminals. I4C has partnered with Google and Facebook for sharing intelligence and signals for proactive actions," the report said.
National Cybercrime Threat Analytical Unit (NCTAU) of I4C analyses the complaints reported on the portal and prepares analysis reports on the latest trends of cybercrime and misuse of services provided by service providers, it said.
(With PTI inputs)
