Our colleague Robert McMillan covers cybersecurity and he's been reporting on a growing problem,

texting scams. Maybe you've gotten one. They're these text messages that come from numbers

you don't recognize and usually they try to strike up a conversation. You probably ignore

them, but Bob, he doesn't. For the last month or two, every time I get one of these obscure

text messages, I respond. And I got a text message on Friday at 4pm. I haven't answered it,

but I think I should answer it now. The message here, let me read the message to you.

Okay. So it's good evening. I hope you had a good and productive day. Long time no see. I have updated

my number. How are you doing? You don't recognize the number. No, I don't recognize it. It's a 530 number.

Okay. And what's your reply? I'm going to say, I think you have the wrong number. Do I know you?

But I've been doing this for a couple of months and usually what happens is they send me back a

picture right away. And it's usually a young attractive looking person. And then they say, I don't know

you, but you seem interesting. But the people texting Bob aren't actually interested in him. They're

interested in his money. These texts are part of a new crypto scan. It's sophisticated and it can go

on for months. It's called pig butchering. So the problem is if you respond to these messages,

they have the scripts they use that are basically designed to entice a certain type of person

into a relationship. So when it does work, it's just particularly devastating. It can ruin your

life. It can eliminate your life savings. And that's what has happened to a number of people,

to thousands of people in the United States over the last year. And those people have really,

they've lost a lot of money because of this. Welcome to the journal, our show about money,

business and power. I'm Kate Leinbach. It's Wednesday, November 2nd.

Coming up on the show, pig butchering, a devastating texting scam that's costing people millions.

Pig butchering starts with a seemingly innocent text message. And once the scammers catch a victim,

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