Pig Butchering is a long-running “social engineering” scam. Also called Sha Zhu Pan or CryptoRom, it requires hackers to take the time to gain the trust of their victims.
The principle of Pig Butchering or CryptoRom is to establish a relationship of trust between the thieves and their target, then to convince the latter to download a mobile application available on the PlayStore and the App Store. The Google and Apple marketplaces are theoretically the two most reliable sources in the world when it comes to safety, so there is nothing to worry about.
To read – Play Store: watch out for these Android applications downloaded more than 20 million times, they want to scam you
These apps are available from reputable sources, but they are malware nonetheless. Once downloaded, scammers promise a fortune in cryptocurrencies to their victims and persuade them to invest through their smartphone. The sums invested in fact go directly into the pockets of the scammers.
Malware passed Google and Apple security checks
Whether the principle is nothing new, it is the use of applications available on the App Store and Play Store from Apple and Google respectively that raises the eyebrow. Are the fraud detection procedures of the two GAFAMs flawed? It should be noted, in their defense, that the organization behind this type of scam is simply mafia.
To read – These two scammers stole 555 million euros through a cryptocurrency scam
According to Security Week, the top of the hierarchy is in charge of supervision and money laundering. The “field”, the scam itself, is entrusted to subcontractors, who pay 40% of their profit to the “head office.” At the bottom of the ladder, teleoperators liaise with targets and trap them. They are often victims themselves, lured into the process by the promise of making money, and kept in the system by the threat of violence”. The applications used to commit these abuses are Ace Pro and MBM BitScan in the App Store and BitScan on Google Play.
Source: Security Week