Pig butchering crypto scams cost users $3.6 billion this year

Pig butchering scams were the leading attack vector for the cryptocurrency space in 2024, resulting in multi-billion dollar losses for millions of investors.

According to data from web3 security firm Cyver’s annual fraud report, scammers managed to dupe crypto users out of a whopping $3.6 billion this year, with the attacks spanning over 150,000 addresses and 800,000 transactions.

The number, while significant, presents a slight drop in losses compared to the previous year, when roughly $3.96 billion was lost to similar schemes.

What are pig butchering scams?

Often involving sophisticated social engineering tactics, pig butchering scams are long-term fraud schemes that thrive on emotional manipulation, fake credibility, and the promise of high returns, making them one of the most insidious threats in the cryptocurrency space.

The term ‘pig butchering’ has been derived from the practice of fattening a pig before slaughter, similar to how scammers build trust and rapport with their targets over weeks or even months. 

Fraudsters approach victims in various ways.

Sometimes, they pose as romantic interests, sometimes as financial mentors, and gradually coax victims into fishy crypto investments that are too good to be true. 

Victims are usually led to fake trading platforms where they often see manipulated dashboards that display impressive returns to gain their trust and encourage investments.

Once the victim is fully invested, the scammer disappears with the funds, leaving victims with little recourse and often no way to recover their losses.

However, in a rare turn of events last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered $8.3 million connected to a pig butchering scheme.

The case involved the former chief executive of Heartland Tri-State Bank, who misappropriated $47.1 million in customer funds, which ultimately led to the bank’s collapse. 

With pig butchering scams becoming increasingly common, authorities all across the globe have increased efforts to track and dismantle these often large criminal networks. 

Earlier this month, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria arrested 792 suspects allegedly involved in orchestrating pig butchering scams.

Cyber attacks on the rise

However, pig butchering scams are merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the various types of threats that plague the cryptocurrency industry.

The Cyvers report notes that hacking attacks targeting the sector jumped 40% compared to last year, with access control breaches and smart contract vulnerabilities causing the most damage.

As previously reported by Invezz, a separate report from security firm Hacken also highlights a similar trend.

Notably, the centralized finance sector was the most affected, with private key compromises and weak access controls emerging as primary vulnerabilities, contributing to 75% of all exploits in 2024.

Besides the aforementioned schemes, phishing attacks remain another persistent threat to crypto users.

Since cryptocurrencies are inherently digital and transactions occur entirely online, the ecosystem remains highly vulnerable to such attacks. 

Even though such losses have been steadily declining over the past months, the complex and stealthy nature of the attack makes it a common weapon in the crypto scammer’s arsenal.

For instance, on December 26, scammers were seen exploiting Google ads to distribute crypto-stealing phishing scripts while mimicking the Pugy Penguins project website with the malicious content hosted on the Adloox tracking domain.

The post Pig butchering crypto scams cost users $3.6 billion this year appeared first on Invezz