STATEWIDE — IT IS PROBABLY UNWISE TO BECOME ROMANTICALLY involved with a stranger, especially when investments are involved, warns State Attorney General Letitia James in a consumer alert issued on Thursday, June 6. The alert warns New Yorkers about increasingly common “pig butchering” online scams in which fraudsters use dating apps, social media, and unsolicited text messages to befriend their victims and then convince them to make fraudulent investments. As part of “pig butchering” scams, which is language that fraudsters use to describe the scheme of “fattening up” victims by gaining their trust before finally taking their money. These schemes typically target victims online via dating websites and apps, social media, and unsolicited text messages. After a virtual meeting between the victim and scammer, the conversation generally transitions over to an encrypted chat platform such as WhatsApp or WeChat that can shield the scammer’s identity from law enforcement. The scammers typically spend a substantial amount of time making victims believe that they are in a romantic or otherwise close personal relationship. After the personal connection is made, the scammer shifts the conversation to trading or investment opportunities and tries to elicit his or her victim’s trust.
Attorney General James advises New Yorkers to take basic steps to avoid becoming the victim of a romance scam or other online fraud scheme, such as only wiring money to people already properly vetted; researching the caller’s online profiles and photos to see if they have been illicitly replicated via AI; and being aware of changed contact info or conversations that are shifted to encrypted platforms.
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