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Unchained

How This Prosecutor Is Spearheading the Fight Against Crypto ‘Pig Butchering’ Scams - Ep. 455

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2023

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Erin West, Deputy District Attorney of California’s Santa Clara County, has heard firsthand tales of scammers preying on victims for hundreds of thousands of dollars. She joins the show to explain the scamming technique known as “pig butchering,” how it is estimated to have raked in tens of billions worldwide, and why it has led to suicide in some cases. West makes the case for why victims need empathy and how law enforcement is working with exchanges to claw back scammed funds. Show highlights: Erin’s background and how she started investigating crypto crimes what exactly the “pig butchering” method entails — and why it’s called that what kind of people scammers are targeting the devastating stories that have arisen from these crypto scams fresh intel on where the fraudsters are located whether the scammers may be connected to foreign governments  how the victims are often turned away by U.S. law enforcement agencies how Erin’s agency was able to return almost $1 million to victims late last year what local agencies can do to address these problems how law enforcement agencies around the U.S. are lacking crypto education the workshops Erin has been leading to help such agencies get educated the relatively low number of NFT-related scams her agency has dealt with so far what Erin recommends for victims of “pig butchering” scams Thank you to our sponsors! Crypto.com FTSE Halborn NYU Links SIM Swaps and Pig Butchering scams:  Forbes: Hackers Have Stolen Millions Of Dollars In Bitcoin -- Using Only Phone Numbers WIRED: What Is a Pig Butchering Scam? Podcast on Indian telemarketing scams: Chameleon: Scam Likely — Campside Media Guests: Erin: LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi everyone, welcome to Unchained, your no-hype resource for all things crypto.

0:08.0

I'm your host, Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopians.

0:11.6

I started covering crypto seven years ago, and as a senior editor, Forbes was the first

0:16.0

mainstream media reporter to cover cryptocurrency full-time.

0:18.8

This is the February 14th, 2023 episode of Unchained.

0:22.8

If you've been enjoying Unchained, please leave us a review on Apple Podcast.

0:26.4

It's a simple way to help others find the show.

0:29.4

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in Fintech program. This one-year part-time program is designed with full-time working

0:39.9

professionals in mind. Visit stern.nyu.edu slash MSFT hyphen Unchained.

0:48.4

Web three projects lost nearly $4 billion of crypto assets in 2022,

0:53.6

but nothing is more expensive than losing trust.

0:56.3

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with the code Laura. Link in the description.

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