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$100 billion lost to ‘pig-butchering’ scams globally
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Pig butchering often starts with what appears to be a wrong-number text message.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
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Pig-butchering scammers who use love and investment ploys to dupe victims around the world have likely stolen more than US$75 billion (S$100 billion), far more than previously estimated, according to a new study.
Professor John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and graduate student Kevin Mei gathered crypto addresses from more than 4,000 victims of the fraud, which has exploded in popularity since the pandemic. With blockchain tracing tools, they tracked the flow of funds from victims to scammers, who are largely based in South-east Asia.
