Nikhil Kamath, the co-founder of Zerodha and the host of the popular podcast ‘WTF,’ has alerted Indian citizens to a peculiar new scam known as the “pig butchering scam.” Kamath highlights that this scam has been responsible for siphoning off tens of thousands of crore rupees. Essentially, it entails gaining the trust of a victim and then metaphorically “butchering” them.
And, this scam is a broad term for various scams executed using this method, such as fake job offer scams, fake crypto investments, and unrealistic high investment schemes.
Kamath says that the reason for this strange analogy is that scammers first build up trust with their victims before they take advantage of them. This is like fattening up a pig before slaughtering it.
“They use the pretense of love and friendship to gain the trust of users and then induce them to send money for jobs and high-return investments and steal the money,” Kamath said. He added, “These scams are global, and their scope is staggering.”
Furthermore, the victims of these scams could also be victims of another scam simultaneously, and they often end up with fake job offers. But once they go abroad to take up the offers, they are made captive and asked to scam people by earning their trust, and even creating fake profiles of girls and boys to trick the opposite sex.
How to Stay Safe From the Pig Butchering Scam:
- Don’t reply to job offers or random requests on messaging apps and social media.
- Don’t download or click on foreign links.
- Always think twice before making any decision; it could save you.
- Never share OTPs or sensitive personal IDs like Aadhar numbers.
- As a general rule of thumb, if something looks too good to be true, remember it usually is.
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