Meta provided insight this week into the company’s efforts in taking down more than 2 million accounts that were connected to pig butchering scams on their owned platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
Pig butchering scams are big business, with hundreds of millions of dollars involved every year. The numbers are not precise because some researchers see these scams as a special kind of romance scam, while others classify them as investment fraud, muddying the numbers based on which group is counting what type of loss. Still, the general idea is that scammers use elaborate storylines to fatten up victims into believing they are in a romantic or otherwise close personal relationship. Once the victim places enough trust in the scammer, they bring the victim into a cryptocurrency investment scheme.
Read more…
Source: Malwarebytes Labs
Related:
- Global operation targets NoName057(16) pro-Russian cybercrime network
July 16, 2025
Between 14 and 17 July, a joint international operation, known as Eastwood and coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, targeted the cybercrime network NoName057(16). Law enforcement and judicial authorities from Czechia, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United States took simultaneous actions against offenders and infrastructure belonging to the pro-Russian ...
- Episource is notifying millions of people that their health data was stolen
July 14, 2025
Medical billing giant Episource is notifying millions of people across the United States that their personal and health information was stolen in a cyberattack earlier this year. The breach affects more than 5.4 million people, according to a listing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, making it one of the largest healthcare breaches ...
- A major security flaw in top eSIM system could put billions of devices at risk
July 14, 2025
Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability in eSIM technology used in virtually all smartphones and many other internet-connected, smart devices. In theory, the flaw could have been abused to intercept or manipulate communications, extract sensitive data, inject malicious applets, and more. There are more than two billion eSIM-enabled devices that could be potentially impacted by this ...
- CNN, BBC, and CNBC websites impersonated to scam people
July 14, 2025
Researchers have uncovered a large campaign impersonating news websites, such as those from CNN, BBC, CNBC, News24, and ABC News, to promote investment scams. Adding a well known brand to your scammy site is a tale as old as time, and gives it an air of legitimacy that increases the likelihood that people will click ...
- Medicare data breach exposes personal details of 100,000 Americans
July 12, 2025
Healthcare data continues to be a top target for cybercriminals. In June alone, two major breaches compromised over 13 million patient records. Now, a newly confirmed Medicare data breach has affected more than 100,000 Americans. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent letters this week to those affected, confirming that hackers accessed sensitive data ...
- Pro basketball player and 4 youths arrested in connection to ransomware crimes
July 10, 2025
Authorities in Europe have detained five people, including a former Russian professional basketball player, in connection with crime syndicates responsible for ransomware attacks. Until recently, one of the suspects, Daniil Kasatkin, played for MBA Moscow, a basketball team that’s part of the VTB United League, which includes teams from Russia and other Eastern European countries. Kasatkin ...