Readers of GASO may now know all about pig-butchering scams. But do you know there are also what scammers call "bird butchering scam", and "fish butchering scam"? They all have the same elements as pig butchering scam, but they have particular targets and are applied outside of investing.
Bird butchering scam
” Bird butchering scam” refers to scammers who approach their targets via social media platforms or instant messaging apps (such as, WeChat) to promote working opportunities that offer returns in a short period of time. The targets will be lured into making credit card payments or others. In actuality, the lucrative returns will never materialize after the fraudster gets the money or financial information of the victims.
Targets
"Birds“ refer to people who always stay at home like a “caged bird”, such as full-time housewives, "geeks", etc. These people have little social contact, but also want to obtain a certain income through the Internet, so "kill the bird plate" scam to part-time job brush single class mainly.
4 Steps to Bird Butchering
1) Buying bait Scammers buy some personal information.
2) Hanging bird nets
The company sends out false ads on shopping platforms, entertainment sites and dating apps with mass messaging to snare "birds”. They then add victim’s accounts to start brainwashing.
3) Feeding birds
After adding the victims, scammers send some income to sweeten the deal, in order to gain the trust of the victims, and continue luring them to take orders.
4) Kill
After several rounds, scammers scare the victim that if they don’t follow through with the task, the previous investment will be lost. At that moment, a lot of victims panic, and follow the instructions of the scammers. They keep ordering. However, the lucrative returns will never come true after the scammers get the money.
Fish butchering scam
” Fish butchering scam” is a form of telecommunications fraud. Scammers go to platforms that buy and sell second-hand items to find the victim's group, lure buyers into contacting them privately and trick them into paying to a fraudulent transactions again and again. Some issues come up with the first payment, goading the victim into making another with some excuse. The whole time, the trade was non-existent and but victims lose real money.
The process of cheating the victim is called "fish kill". The scam operator is called a "fisherman". And finally, the person making the fake link to the victims, is called a "captain".
Killing fish plate also refers to "credit card withdrawal, loan frauds", where scammers advertise on the internet that they can increase credit card limits or improve credit scores.