India Joins Hands With Google and Facebook To Cracks Down Pig Butchering Scams

India has decided to partner with tech giants like Google and Facebook to curb the rise in “Pig Butchering” scams in the nation.

The step comes against the backdrop of India taking a strict stance against the illicit crypto activities happening in the nation and a rise in scams in the sector worldwide.

Scammers use fictitious online personas to trick victims into falling for fraudulent investment schemes. This sort of online investment fraud is called a “sha zhu pan” or “pig butchering” scam.

Pig butchering refers to the scammers’ tactic of gradually gaining the trust of their victims in order to “fatten them up” before “slaughtering” them and taking their money.

India Partners With Tech Giants To Stop Pig Butchering Scams

The Indian Union Home Ministry’s 2024 annual report states that investment scams and pig butchering scams have been focusing on “unemployed youths, housewives, students, and needy people,” taking advantage of their trust and financial insecurities to entice them into fraudulent schemes that promise large and rapid returns.

According to the research, victims are “losing large sums of money (even borrowed money) on a daily basis,” and scams are increasingly being advertised on messaging apps like Telegram and Whatsapp as well as Google’s ad systems.

In an effort to counter this, Google and Facebook have partnered with the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre to proactively flag related activities, like malicious advertisements, identify phishing campaigns connected to these scams, and detect fraudulent digital lending apps.

Read Also: Indian Government Cracks Down on 17 Crypto Exchanges for Massive Tax Fraud Worth $97.1M

India’s Central Bank Takes Aversion to Crypto

Today’s news on the measures to curb illegal activities in the sector come as just previously, India’s central bank had highlighted the risks of crypto usage.

The report supported the country’s central bank’s long-standing anti-crypto stance. The position, however, also runs counter to the worldwide trend of countries embracing cryptocurrencies and attempting to integrate them into their economies to spur growth.

Why is Indian Government Raising Surveillance on Crypto Sector?

The decentralized nature of the cryptocurrency industry and its involvement in illegal activities are the primary points of contention between the Indian government, RBI, and the industry.

The Indian government has expressed concerns about consumer protection, financial stability, and the potential misuse of cryptocurrencies for illicit activities.

The “Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill,” which was submitted in 2021, signaled the government’s desire to regulate the sector.

However, Indian has witnessed many high-profile scams and hacks related to crypto, which has made the government of the nation take the steps to curb such illicit activities.

Read Also: Indian Politician’s Phone and Laptop of Hacked, Scammers Make Demands in Cryptocurrency