LAKEWOOD, Colorado – Contact Denver7 has been reporting cryptocurrency scams for several months, and now a popular scam has made its way to Lakewood.
It’s called “pig butcher scam”. The victim is convinced to hand over their funds to an unauthorized crypto investor. The scammer then transfers the money to an account that appears to be increasing in value. Then the scammer disappears along with a large amount of cryptocurrency.
A 46-year-old man from Cleveland, Ohio, who wished to remain anonymous, says he lost $750,000 after falling victim to the scam.
“The term pig slaughtering basically comes from a farmer who fattens the pig before slaughtering it. And in this case, it was the suspect who fattened his victim,” said Lakewood Police public information officer John Romero.
In the last month, the department has let a few people fall victim to the scam. Romero says this usually happens through social media and dating sites like LinkedIn and Tinder.
The Lakewood Police Department has issued an alert on its Facebook page, reminding people to remain vigilant.
“I always thought I’d never fall for that,” said Steve Belcher, who lost $1.6 million in a hog butcher scam.
The Cleveland victim reached out to Contact Denver7 when he saw our December story on Belcher.
The Cleveland victim says he talked to his scammer on Tinder for a few months, long enough to gain his trust. This is when the crypto talks started.
“She told me about the site to sign up for and that gave me confidence that I did everything,” he said.
The victim was able to easily make a few withdrawals from the crypto account he set up, but soon after, he lost access to the funds. He then received a message from the scammer telling him that he needed to deposit more than $204,000 in order to access his crypto account and only then realized he had been scammed.
Lakewood Police say there are several things you can do to keep this from happening to you.
“It’s one of those things where you never spend your money online with someone you don’t know, especially if you’ve never met them in person,” Romero said.
He also emphasizes never giving your account information or ID to anyone you don’t know.
“Do your homework, and if it’s too good to be true, it probably is,” said the Cleveland fraud victim.
Lakewood Police Say The Reality Is Most Crypto Scam Victims Will Never See Their Money Again. Regardless, if you suspect you may be a victim, you should call the police immediately.
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