Alabama Securities Commission warns about “pig butchering” scams being on the rise

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - If you're in the cryptocurrency market, you might want to pay attention.

Dozens of Alabama residents have been victims of something called “pig slaughter” scam that continues to massacre your bank accounts. So far, the scam has stolen more than $22 million from nearly 90 victims.

It's called "pig culling" because the alleged scammer continually feeds you information while fattening up victims with excitement and the promise of big investment returns according to the Alabama Securities and Exchange Commission.

One way this happens is that suspected scammers send phishing emails through social media to entice people to send them money. The Better Business Bureau says that if you're going to get involved in investing, you need to know exactly where your money is going.

"If you can't just explain to them where their money is going and what end goal it's trying to achieve, they probably shouldn't go ahead and probably shouldn't trust the person because basically they're just saying give me some money," Garet Smitherman said. , from the BBB of Central and South Alabama.

Smitherman says anyone offering you a security or investment in any product in the state must register with the Alabama Securities and Exchange Commission.

The ASC has free investor education and fraud prevention information here: https://asc.alabama.gov/

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