Latest news with #financialscams
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Escaping The Pig Butcher: Avoiding The Online Scam Stealing Billions
Pig butchering has conned billions of dollars from victims worldwide. The New York Post recently reported that the Cambodian-based Huione Group gang has reaped over $4 billion between August 2021 and January 2025. To some, pig butchering is nothing more than requesting a special cut at the meat market. Unfortunately, it's become a notorious form of cybercrime that causes complete financial devastation for its victims. Pig butchering (Sha Zhu Pan, which translates to 'killing pig plate') has a far more nefarious meaning. The Department of Financial Protection & Innovation defines pig butchering as a 'form of investment fraud in the crypto space where scammers build relationships with targets through social engineering and then lure them to invest crypto in fake opportunities or platforms created by the scammer.' Pig butchering has conned billions of dollars from victims worldwide. The New York Post recently reported that the Cambodian-based Huione Group gang has reaped over $4 billion between August 2021 and January 2025 alone. There are a few things to watch out for to avoid being lured into such extortion schemes. Often, they target seniors and other populations less familiar with cybercrime. According to The National Council on Aging, such scams often start with receiving a message out of the blue claiming to mistake you for someone else or having online profile pictures that look like a model. It's really important not to respond or send money to random people who contact you online, no matter how compelling their story is. Scammers are dependent upon gaining your trust, and a sympathetic or catchy story is a great way to do that. Another big warning sign is getting messages via SMS or social media that quickly redirect you to chat on another platform like Telegram or WeChat, which are less regulated and moderated. They might convince you to invest a small amount of money, which is then returned to you at a bigger profit. Before too long, the amounts of money being requested increase by leaps and bounds. A recent story out of Ohio details how an initial request for $10,000 quickly turned into a request for $500,000 to unlock any profits that were made. Even more appalling, the scammer requested the victim to 'go to a loan shark' to get the funds! In 2024, Meta removed 'over 2 million accounts' suspected of running crypto investment scams like pig butchering. Companies are starting to do more to combat pig butchering, but it's still a very real problem. A big step in their effort to keep people from falling for these scams is raising awareness through public posts broadcasting safety tips. They recently started rolling out warnings in Facebook Messenger and Instagram DMs tipping users off to 'potentially suspicious interactions or cold outreach from people you don't know', which is a good start. Banks are also beginning to require customers to acknowledge the dangers of scams when transferring money by ACH, Zelle, and wire. If you think you've been a victim of pig butchering, it's very important to both contact your bank and file a fraud report with the Federal Trade Commission. The sooner you report an incident, the more that can be done to help you potentially recover any lost funds. A recent blog from Norton advises victims to keep track of information, including 'messages, transaction records, and scammer contact information,' to better help authorities combat fraud. Although pig-butchering is an online scam that isn't going away anytime soon, the public can better protect themselves by being more aware of the warning signs and consequences of being involved in such a scheme. It reminds one of the classic saying, 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!'
RNZ News
23-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Confusion over how police investigate crimes like shoplifting
There is confusion over whether police are using a financial threshold to decide whether they investigate crimes like shoplifting and financial scams. Checkpoint has seen a document that lays out nationally standardised value thresholds for certain crimes. Shoplifting is $500, Petrol drive offs are $150 and fraud, paywave and online scams are $1000. National Retail investigation support manager Matt Tierney spoke to Lisa Owen. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
CBC
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Sask. RCMP report major spike in financial fraud in northern communities
Social Sharing RCMP say they're seeing a major increase in financial scams targeting residents of northern Saskatchewan. After investigating 57 recent reports from victims in the area, police said approximately $5.3 million was stolen from victims in the region between December 2024 and March 2025, Saskatchewan RCMP said in a Wednesday news release. Scammers are primarily contacting victims by email, phone or social media. Among other scams, they're claiming to have a special "investment opportunity" that a victim can join, or posing as lawyers or government officials claiming to help people recover funds from previous scams they've fallen for. In the December 2024 to March 2025 period, investigators with the Prince Albert RCMP's general investigation section said the most common frauds were investment frauds, payment scams or what are commonly called "grandparent scams" — where the fraudsters impersonate family members, typically grandchildren, and reach out to elderly victims saying they're in crisis and need money immediately. The investment fraud scams, meanwhile, often involve luring victims into depositing money into fake websites the scammers claim track investments, but can only be accessed outside the formal financial system via cryptocurrency, RCMP said. Celebrities and major public figures are commonly impersonated to fool victims in social media ads. Once deposited, the money is never returned. With payment scams, the fraudsters typically pose as legitimate companies or government agencies, and tell victims that money is being withheld from them because of a bureaucratic or technical hurdle. They then demand personal information and payment through a cryptocurrency or gift card or order to receive the money, which never arrives. How to spot, report scams Saskatchewan RCMP say one victim in northern Saskatchewan lost $350,000 after falling for an "investment opportunity" they found through social media. The scammer convinced the victim to send cryptocurrency to a fake trading platform. After the victim was unable to retrieve any money from the platform, another scammer, claiming to be a recovery agency, convinced them to pay more money to recover their funds. Another victim reported losing over $160,000 after falling for a fraudulent stock market opportunity. A scammer convinced them to send them money over e-transfer and provided them with fake financial reports for months, before suddenly claiming that they had been hacked and lost all of the money. A third victim reported losing $87,000 in a similar fake business scam, this time sending cryptocurrency. They too were later contacted by another scammer posing as a fake law firm, charging them more money to recover their funds. RCMP say there are several red flags that may indicate an investment fraud. Unsolicited text messages or phone calls mentioning investment opportunities, especially ones that advertise suspiciously high returns, should be immediately considered fraudulent. Messages that claim to be from a trusted source, like a bank or family member, that ask for money urgently should also be treated with suspicion. Cryptocurrency investment firms that aren't registered with provincial or national securities regulators, or that don't have legitimate addresses in their contact information, are also highly suspicious. Police say that if someone believes they've been scammed, they should immediately tell their bank to try to stop any outgoing payments, and should then file a police report. The sooner they do so, the more likely investigators will be able to freeze or reverse payments while they investigate the scam, RCMP said in their news release.
Finextra
15-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
BioCatch and The Knoble co-launch anti-scam guide and cost calculator
Financial scams are on the rise globally, resulting in billions in financial losses for both financial institutions and the individual consumers they serve. 0 The Knoble, a coalition of financial service professionals, law enforcement, regulators, and non-profit organisations dedicated to combating human crime, and BioCatch, which prevents financial crime by recognising patterns in human behaviour, are pleased to announce the release of a scams control business case: 'Measuring the Impact of Authorised Push Payment Scams: A Practical Framework for Financial Institutions.' This powerful resource package, comprised of a cost-justification calculator, a practical guide, and a strategic presentation, aims to equip financial institutions with the tools they need to build a compelling business case for proactively investing in scam-prevention controls. The initiative was developed with one goal in mind: To help banks articulate not only the ethical imperative of scam control programs but also their return on investment. 'Scams are not isolated financial crimes; they are deeply connected to human exploitation,' said Emma Campbell, Director of Program Delivery. 'Financial institutions play a critical role in disrupting human crime, and this toolkit gives them the tools to build the business case and take action.' Scams have evolved beyond isolated incidents, as organised criminal groups intertwine their scamming operations with human trafficking, elder exploitation, and a variety of other crimes. This comprehensive business case toolkit draws upon financial trends, global benchmarks, and case studies to illustrate how investing in scam prevention can yield substantial cost savings, foster customer trust, and mitigate the potential for long-term financial losses. The cost calculator helps stakeholders quantify the impact of scam losses. The accompanying guide offers clear instructions on using the calculator, while the presentation deck helps fraud leaders advocate for strategic scam control funding across the C-suite. 'Scammers today aren't only lone-wolf, individual operators,' BioCatch Senior Global Advisory Director Seth Ruden said. 'Increasingly, scams originate from industrialised complexes staffed in large part by trafficked peoples. The transnational criminal operations behind these scam camps employ a crime-as-a-service business model and harness GenAI-powered tools to improve both the sophistication and success of their attacks. Financial institutions deserve equally sophisticated scam controls. Delaying a proactive response only guarantees a future built on reactive defences.' To support the rollout of this business case, The Knoble and BioCatch will co-host an exclusive webinar on June 5, 2025, at noon ET: 'Justifying the Investment: The Business Case for Scam Controls.' The session will unpack the contents of the toolkit, walk through the calculator, and highlight key scam control strategies that become possible once buy-in is secured. The full resource package is available exclusively to members through the Knoble Network Member Center Resource Library. Not yet a member? Visit to join and gain access to this and other critical tools.
Times
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Two to One review — Sandra Hüller can't fix the flat reunification plot
Last year's awards season staple and powerhouse performer Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest) takes a qualitative tumble with this new 'feelgood' comedy about financial scams and money laundering in the week before German reunification in 1990. Hüller plays Maren, an unemployed yet fiercely proud East German who, together with her partner Robert (Max Riemelt) and ex-boyfriend Volker (Ronald Zehrfeld), discovers an enormous underground bunker in Halberstadt, near the border with West Germany. The bunker has been hastily commandeered to house several thousand tonnes of the country's soon to be defunct banknotes. And so, in the three days left before the deutschmark takeover of October 3, 1990, Maren and Co hatch a mildly convoluted plan to
