John Oliver takes a deep dive into a murky online crypto scam

A wrong number, an app, and all your money gone.

There are no shortage of phishing scams online, but in the latest episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver zones in on one that’s increasingly prevalent: “pig butchering”. It’s a type of financial scam that involves befriending the victim and encouraging them to invest money via a fake app.

As Oliver explains in the video above, this type of scam typically involves victims being pointed towards what looks like a reputable trading platform, but results in any money invested being lost. Depressingly, Oliver explains that many of the “scammers” on the other end of the phone are themselves victims of human trafficking by criminal gangs.

“Perhaps the most effective way to stop this from happening is to make it less lucrative by having fewer people fall for it,” Oliver concludes. “That is where awareness of this scam is key. This is one of those rare cases where raising awareness is in itself genuinely useful.”

His main piece of advice? “As a general rule, when a stranger on a dating app says either ‘I love you’ or ‘crypto’ within a month of talking to you — worry.”

Sam Haysom is the Deputy UK Editor for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.

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