Julia’s kids registered her for Facebook and taught her the fundamentals of using the social media platform.
“They said it would help us stay in touch and let me view pictures of my grandchildren,” I recall her telling me her sad story. Then, one day, a handsome man from Taiwan sent Julia a friend request. She granted the friend request and made “Jim” her Facebook buddy. It didn’t begin as a romantic relationship, he was so sweet, but he said he was lonely and searching for friendship, nothing more than someone to talk to and keep him company.
They became close friends fast. Jim was a live-fast guy making deals and a lot of cash even at his age, driving exotic cars, expensive restaurants, and trips. He always showed extra care and was the perfect guy to keep Julia busy on her Facebook all the time chatting.
Soon after becoming friends, Jim revealed to Julia that his wife had passed away from cancer years ago and that his experience caring for her was identical to hers when her spouse succumbed to the illness. Georgina could also relate as her husband had passed from cancer also.
Then, he started throwing Julia deals and sending lovely items to her to show that he was financially great, which is a woman’s first comfort point. Next, he emailed Julia photos we now realize were from the internet.
He constantly expressed his eagerness for her to join him in his deals to make some extra cash. They grew close, and he began chatting with her daily, stating that it was more convenient for him than using Facebook and other social media sites. The constant gifts and flowers now and then were also flattering, so nobody suspected a thing at the time.
There were promises they were going to meet any time in the near future, and since the friendship was majorly platonic, they were more friends who enjoyed talking to each other. But in reality of things, deep feelings grew.
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Not long after, he convinced Julia by investing some money for her in one of the many phony investment scams he claimed to be part of. Soon after, Julia started getting some cash from the investment opportunities introduced to her by Jim.
Months went by, and business was looking good. Not long after, she introduced the business to family members and close friends. They all registered and invested their money into the Forex investment platform Jim had proposed without hesitation. Jim also got them to go for a long-term plan so that their ROI was more significant, and they had no doubts it was legit.
Julia made her initial investment of $150k. Ignoring the red flags, she knew it was a lot of money to give, but she reasoned that if things worked out, she would spend the rest of her life with this lovely, honest businessman who gave her the world.
Everything continued as planned till later in the year, Julia’s son Ted attempted to make a withdrawal; this was where everything took a wrong turn.
It was time to withdraw, and the newly retired man wanted his money and investment returns, which significantly increased at the time of yield.
Ted made a complaint, and the other members of the family started panicking and tried to make withdrawals as their yields were stated to be ready. Finally, Jim was alerted about the issues, and further explained that he was just a customer and had funds in the platform.
One fateful morning the website URL stopped responding, and all emails bounced. Text messages did not deliver, and they disconnected even the lines. They did not believe it was still a scam. But Julia said, ‘they provided me formal certifications, documents to complete, and invoices for everything.
That was when Ted started seeking solutions on how to identify a scammer online, and he came across some global anti-scam websites with no information about the platform in question. So they kept searching for warning signs, and they realized the hard way that they had been victims of the butchering scam: pig butchering scam, after a lot of convincing from close friends, articles, and blogs teaching awareness to all types of scams.
They reported their situation to the securities and exchange commission and law enforcement. The files ranged from email and text, email addresses, bank account transfers, sending money through gift cards, and wire transfers.
Jim, a con artist, claimed to be making a lot of money from the forex investment platform, he provided fake documents, and Reportscammedbitcoin was able to provide proof to them through analysis that they had just been scammed. Additionally, Reportscammedbitcoin had the company name on their list of registered broker scams and provided evidence of this.
After a lot of lies, Julia never heard from Jim again. Although the investigation is still ongoing, law enforcement and internet report websites explained that her experience included the common scams on social media. In addition, they clarified that her encounter had many elements in common with romance scammers and that it was implausible she would receive her money back.
Dear grandchildren, before you give granny that new smartphone, inform her that scammers exist online and ripping people off their funds is real.
The pig butchering scam is one of the common scams that are faced daily on the internet. If you notice unusual activities like this, learn to report a scammer online before you fall into a romance scam, registered broker scam, pig butchering scam, and many more on the internet.
