Pig Butchering Is Getting Worse with Erin West

Easy Prey

Pig butchering is worse than just manipulating someone and taking their money. It leaves them with emotional anguish. Once their finances have been drained, they lose their financial security and they no longer trust people. Today’s guest is Erin West. Erin has been with the County of Santa Clara for 26 years and is a Deputy District Attorney. She specializes in cryptocurrency investigations and prosecutions.

Show Notes:

• [0:46] - Erin shares her background and what her role is as a Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County.
• [3:20] - Five years ago, Erin found herself working on prosecutions regarding SIM swapping and cryptocurrency hacks.
• [4:35] - The emotional impact of “just a financial crime,” is staggering.
• [7:38] - You never know who around you is a victim of some of these crimes.
• [8:18] - Erin describes the experience of being convinced to click a link herself.
• [10:32] - Scammers will think about different things that would trigger someone into clicking a link.
• [13:40] - Pig butchering involves building trust with a victim and showing them a false plush lifestyle.
• [16:08] - A red flag is a text or social media message you may receive that seems misdirected or to a wrong number.
• [19:21] - It feels like the right thing to do when we feel the need to respond to the scammer with a “you’ve got the wrong number,” but that’s how they start a conversation.
• [22:29] - In many cases, scammers bulk text a massive amount of phone numbers. But some people are specifically targeted on social media.
• [24:23] - Covid really accelerated this type of scam due to loneliness.
• [25:40] - A misconception is that these scams target the elderly. But it is not based on age at all.
• [27:03] - Unfortunately, law enforcement is not set up to be able to handle this type of crime.
• [28:18] - Erin explains that law enforcement doesn’t tend to always lead with empathy when this type of crime is reported.
• [30:12] - It is important to report the crime to local law enforcement, but there are other places that the crime can be reported to in addition.
• [32:50] - Victims should be able to speak to a detective.
• [34:33] - Victims should be very wary of third party recovery programs.
• [37:26] - On the other side of things, a scammer could also be a victim of human trafficking and being forced to scam others.
• [39:40] - Scams are being operated on a massive scale and have a front of a corporate business.
• [41:14] - Initially, most of the cases seemed to have money moved out of the country. However, recently scammers have been found to be operating in the US.
• [44:04] - There is some hope and opportunities in recent months where money laundering has been intercepted.
• [46:41] - Progress in education and advocating for less victim shaming is moving in the right direction.

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