Confidence, confusion, cashout: How pig butchering is blindsiding victims

Threat actors are disarming their victims with a new approach: The long game. Instead of asking for money or gift cards upfront, they build a connection and confidence until they cash in on the big payout. In this episode of Discarded, Selena Larson and Crista Giering are joined by Proofpoint team members: Tim Kromphardt, Email Fraud Researcher, and Genina Po, Threat Analyst, to discuss socially engineered attacks and how victims are tricked.

Join us as we discuss:

• Understanding what pig butchering is
• How the scam blindsides victims
• The evolution of the fraud from China to other countries in Asia

Resources mentioned:

• https://www.rappler.com/business/chinese-mafia-trafficking-filipinos-lure-lonely-professionals-cryptocurrency-scam/
• https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-mafia-forcing-filipinos-crypto-034555327.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=720qUBQZJZ0
• https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/broken-dreams-and-piggy-banks-pig-butchering-crypto-fraud-growing-online
• https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking

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