Victims lost more than $500 million on just one of the three blockchains targeted by scammers, according to a new analysis that digital asset intelligence company Inca Digital provided to the Washington Post. Ian Schade, a blockchain intelligence analyst at TRM Labs, said the full cost of the scams has probably reached into the billions over each of the last two years. The scam strategy has a name — “pig-butchering,” referring to winning people’s trust with quick initial gains that scammers then use to lure bigger investments, fattening them up like pigs before the slaughter. The fraudsters meet potential targets on dating apps or other platforms, most recently including Airbnb. And perpetrators are making off with more than even most law enforcement officials realize. Even as the crypto world endures a year-long slump exacerbated by the implosion of the trading exchange FTX and other high-profile firms, scammers have continued to snag new victims and rake in eye-popping hauls, the data show. Inca Digital analyzed a portion of the fraud, gathering data from eight leading exchanges that scammers use to lure their quarry and assessing only a slice of the crypto they target.
