Pig Butchering Scams: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

John Oliver discusses a popular internet scam, why it’s easier to fall for it than you might think, and, of course, boner alerts.
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[@betterchapter]

I didn’t know this scam was called pig butchering but I was fully prepared to watch a segment on the pork industry since that’s exactly something John Oliver would do

[@vicente8705]

It’s actually just called a romance scam. I think officials are just trying to rebrand the name of the crime to emphasize it’s devastating effects.

[@Oroku_Sensei]

I said, "huh... what's going in in the meat packing industry?" And here we are.

[@roadlesstraveled34]

Yeah that's EXACTLY why I clicked on this, no joke😂 I was fully prepared to be entertained by scams in the pork industry.

[@MarcelaBovio]

Same! 😅

[@cadenvanvalkenburg6718]

Yeah I saw this and just went "People are scamming our pork? I guess I need to know this"

[@Fragdaar]

The one thing I wish John would have mentioned are the "recovery scams", These are also scammers, who pretend to work for a company that is against the initial scammers and wants to help recover your money. THOSE ARE SCAMMERS TOO, don't fall for it! 99% of the time the money can't be recovered and you have to cut the losses. They are also VERY convincing, and because people are already desperate to get their money back, they fall for it, and just get scammed for even more.

[@fredrikfjeld1575]

A Norwegian podcast mentioned that. Those scams were mostly done by eastern Europeans instead of Asians, but pretty much the exact same tactics. Except for there being actual video calls and such I believe, so the pretty women were actual pretty women

[@superga5]

post modern criminals

[@ttdestroy]

sometimes the recovery company is the same group double dipping. it's insane

[@bingcrosbymusic]

How do you know about recovery rooms

[@CollinMcLean]

Just like Timeshares....

[@nullnull7495]

gosh that father and daughter made me cry. they obviously love each other so much . Hope they make more money

[@Michelle-1]

they had a 300k RV behind them while they were crying though... I think they're fine.

[@idontpointby]

@@Michelle-1 What a yikes take.

[@agatagogh7072]

I’m close to someone who lost 120K in one of these scams. It is truly WILD, they will ‘date’ their targets for over a year before asking for money. TRULY UNREAL

[@Vishalhimsha]

Same happened with me. But #Agent_Scorey saved my life and made my recovery process possible. 🙏🙏🙏💯💯

[@shrimpinpat]

The girls dad sounds like such a good man. Just gave his daughter a hug and said it’s okay even though he died inside

[@butHomeisNowhere___]

Honestly made me tear up quite a bit. It takes a strong person to lose that much in one go and STILL be able to comfort her even if you're dying inside.

[@QueenD75172]

Broke my heart for him AND her because I know how deeply guilty she must feel. I really hope they can somehow financially recover at least a little. They seem to be just great people.

[@redlion145]

Yeah, that response was hard to hear, but good to see. Yesterday I watched a retrospective documentary about The Group (the Crossroads drug rehab organization) and the parents of the kids who had been in rehab would say some truly heinous shit, a real 180 from the attitude seen here. In both instances the parents had been bilked for money, but at least in this instance the Dad recognized what's really valuable.

[@zxggwrt]

That made me really sad 😞

[@tonytooshort]

Truly! What a remarkable man. With all the money they lost, his daughter still kept hold of her greatest gift. Her father. 🫶🏽

[@brookeanderson5038]

I appreciate how he showed respect towards the victims, not portraying them as stupid. Showing that regular, often educated, people can get scammed is an important part in making people comfortable in coming forward with their stories.

[@scharlesworth93]

Often people are so ashamed they just fall in deeper holes, it’s important to show some empathy

[@kelsiparker7990]

This sort of thing will help people think "This could happen to me". A story that makes you go "lol what an idiot" is more likely to result in thinking you would never fall for such a thing and, thus, inevitably fall for such a thing.

[@firstlast8258]

​@scharlesworth93 too much empathy and your brain falls out

[@stylis666]

Yes, getting successfully scammed is a matter of timing. If you are in a situation where a scam sounds credible, it's easy to fall for it. Being awkward and weird does have its advantages :p "Is this dr. John? How is my horse?" Nope. Your horse was okay, I've had better. Send a cow next time. **blocks number**

[@ctdieselnut]

Firstly, this scam, like so many others, ultimately uses your own greed against you. Second, just because you cant identify how something is a scam, doesn't mean it isn't. Often in retrospect, scams seem obvious, but in the moment, you don't/can't see the red flags. This scam differs from many because there is an element of using the victim's compassion against them (and flattery), at least at the beginning. Those are powerful hooks. I know its easy to dismiss these people as stupid or gullible, but that's really a dangerous way to view it. These people were taken advantage of, some highly educated, some you'd think would've known better (banker guy). That's more of a comment on how effective the scam is, not the gullibility of the victim. It reminds me of the retired NBA players who (iirc 75% within 5 yrs) go broke. Sure, the majority is from living beyond their means, but it's also from scams/bad investments, often by family/friends/'financial advisors'. People love to dog on those guys, but a lot of reg people would fall in the exact same traps they do, no doubt. A lot of people say they lost more on schemes purporting to be legitimate, than gambling or luxury items etc. People who think they can never get scammed are prime targets. Scammers/con men wouldn't be around if they weren't convincing. Be careful out there, esp when $ is involved.

[@dwinsemius]

I played along with one Asian woman who said she wanted to be a friend, and the "knife" for the butchering operation was gold futures to be chosen by her uncle and arranged through a British agent. It was exactly as described at the FBI website. I pointed out that arranging deals through offshore unregistered financial entities was a good way to get fleeced. She said "but aren't we friends?"

[@williamJ0shh]

You guys are genius! Thank you for saving tons of potential victims. Spread the awareness You just earned another subscriber. Thank you for providing this service. These scammers are shameful and need to be shut down ASAP. You're doing the world a huge favor WITH this *CLAIM BACK JUSTICE*

[@carolinesroadhouse]

My sister committed suicide over this scam. She was a brilliant nurse, so funny and loving and I miss her every day. Thank you, Jon for bringing awareness to this criminal enterprise, so that other vulnerable people don't lose all.

[@savannahblanch1991]

i’m so sorry, that is horrible

[@shan1959]

I’m so sry ❤

[@AsilayMithsay]

😢

[@TheDirtymikenation]

sorry for your loss but she wasn't that brilliant if she fell for that scam and Ive had family fall for it and they are idiots as well

[@Sabrina-mr7md]

​@@TheDirtymikenationsounds to me like you're the idiot, emotional intelligence is something not everyone is blessed with I guess

[@bigred2989]

I work a job that involves Western Union money transfers, and one day this old Hispanic woman came in trying to wire $100 to someone in California. She gave me her phone so I could take down the name of the receiver and I see its in a Facebook Messenger chat titled "Dwayne The Rock Johnson" and some random numbers. The way the rest of the text was written came off as odd as well, so I asked if she had ever met this person. She said no, it was someone she met online they'd been talking to for a few months who recently said they lost their job and needed money. They had initially asked her to send $1000 but she said she'd send what she could instead. I got management involved right away and we managed to talk her out of sending any money, at least with us.

[@bellsof12]

Excellent job! Follow up questions are how these scams get caught! Education is the best way to combat any scams.

[@kathygann7632]

Thank you for being aware and protecting this woman.

[@TheSaltydog07]

You are a saint. 😇

[@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460]

God bless and keep you, Big Red!!! Thank you for protecting that woman and asking follow up questions. Most fraud can be stopped instantly by simply stopping to question the victim and giving them a chance to step out of their emotions and instead, think logically. *Thank You!!!*

[@barrywoodfilms]

Not all heroes wear capes. Thank you for being a kind person!

[@cijmo]

I work with vulnerable adults and one of our employees came to work Monday and explained that he had almost fallen for one of these. It just so happened he had to go to the bank and withdraw money. He has banked there since 1980 so the staff and esp. the manager knew him well. (We actually all went to high school together). She just casually asked if he was taking a holiday and he told her about spending his money on crypto instead. She sat with him for about an hour explaining it all. It was scary because, in the end, if he said to her that he still wanted to invest, she would have to give him the money but luckily, he knew that she wouldn't be wrong about this so he just deleted everything from the scammer.

[@Oxaca73]

I got one of the messages. I replied "Wrong number" and then replied once more when they apologized for disturbing me. When they replied to that and tried to keep the conversation going I blocked them. I didn't realize it was a scam but I saw no reason why someone would want to continue conversing with a "wrong number" person.

[@bibbobella]

Same. “ohh, sorry for disturbing you!” “Np. Bye” “What is your name?” “BYE” end of that “convensation” I guess my rude ending was enough to make them realize I had absolutely no interests in talking to them.

[@davidkavanagh189]

It's explained very well in the video why some people reply. Also, a huge amount, if not most of these scams are started on dating sites where people clearly want to talk to their matches.

[@nedhunter4444]

I figured out it was a scam and tried trolling them. They gave up after I tried to convince them I was theta prime years old (theta prime being the fictitious number from the SCP Foundation that breaks the laws of math and physics).

[@PrettyPinkPeacock]

I had a mysterious missed call then wrong number text and even after googling it, couldn't work out the scam, but I blocked them because I knew I didn't need to talk to them.

[@lexaj6886]

So the best defense is not responding to texts, making it hard to build an emotional connection with and being generally opposed to any kind of finance activity? I have been preparing for this all my life!

[@lilbig2462]

Yeah, it doesn't seem that difficult. Lol

[@danielmorris8136]

Ditto 😂 Its go time!

[@NothingXemnas]

It is basic skepticism. It is questionable how people fall for this kind of situation (specially how commonly people fall for ads? like, a friend of mine literally plays every game they find on ads). The heck... Like, I would understand in the 2000's when internet and media literacy was just becoming a thing, but decades later and it didn't get better AT ALL.

[@jessn.3851]

The problem is these scammers are also on dating apps with fake profiles. So even if people don't answer texts, they can still fall for it.

[@chrisballard7250]

Agreed

[@Code_Dee]

"70% - 80% fall for fake love" Worth noting how isolated and lonely people in our society feel.

[@Jumbleman5]

It's also from profiles with good looking people in them. It's a lot easier to fall for it when you think they're hot.

[@IMeMineWho]

So just make the effort and meet and vet people the old fashioned way..through friends and irl!

[@oughtssought1198]

important point

[@Xvladin]

No one cares about how lonely people are. People hate incels

[@DuranmanX]

Explains the divorce rate

[@worldwidepete]

I was told to search for this video tonight. I had a Chinese girl send me one of these "wrong numbers" and I was forgiving and nice. So suddenly she really wanted to have a conversation all day. Even though she was a CEO of a company. ;) Yeah. There were even more red flags. Halfway through this video I block and reported all contact I had. Thanks Team.

[@baoboumusic]

Good for you, glad you managed to escape!!

[@studleyjb3172]

Don't answer, just delete.

[@zen1647]

Great outcome. Now send this video to two other people. 👍

[@Sonichero151]

You could have blocked someone that was being enslaved by a Chinese Gang........

[@ksan1648]

Any interesting ways to "counter" these-I identified warning flags early on, but I'm "playing along* while I think of something concrete...what gets me is that they're using a US number, so is police involvement an option?,,

[@mapleleaf65]

When I was younger, I was new to doing my own taxes, and got a call from fake police officers that convinced me I had committed tax fraud. Got scammed out of an embarrassing amount of money (on my birthday.) This is such a common scam where I live now that I'm amazed I ever fell for it, but all that they need is one of your weaknesses to get a huge chunk of your savings. Now, whenever I'm in financial straits, I think of that amount of money I lost and all the shame comes back. I still remember being in the bank and shaking, trying not to cry withdrawing all that money, but no one knew what was going on, and I was too afraid to tell anyone

[@isobelg4115]

You poor thing. It’s not your fault that this happened they preyed on your very real emotions. I’m so sorry that happened to you and I’m sorry it brings you ongoing pain but I hope you know it is nothing to be ashamed about, even though it feels that way now. You are incredibly brave for sharing your experience.

[@xiunaa]

"Ok officer what's your name and badge number I'll come see you down at the station" like, do not NORMALISE this behaviour being okay. You're not stupid just because you made one mistake and neither is anyone else. But at the same time justifying this as being 'an honest mistake' is willingly letting this happen to more and more people. People, especially ADULTS need to be more responsible and do actual due diligence rather than just sending money to people they've never met.

[@BTG07]

Thursday is the new monday.

[@darthmax-fk8qe]

Since HBO made the change, I started pirating it on Monday morning

[@blobzombie]

For my place of employment, Thursdays are my Fridays, so I'm happy with Mondays being the new Thursdays.

[@awesomefish_69]

By Thursday, I’ve already moved on to other things :(

[@JPF0904]

Garfield: Hold my beer

[@pauulkubasek1815]

Tuesday is the new Sunday

[@utahnash]

That story with the girl and her dad was so sad, and it only made me sadder hearing how incredibly supportive her dad was, despite how much money they lost. Just the most incredibly wholesome people getting their lives ruined is so much harder to hear than just a video talking about a scam.

[@Bongwater33]

Sorry Dad, your retirement is screwed!

[@adammuzzy2578]

the adopted girl from China was in on it the whole time, since birth.

[@TNM001]

but they tried to be greedy, yes? they werent happy with what traditionall investement gave them...they wanted to play the system...going ALL IN on crypto... think about that when you feel sympathetic.

[@LivyRivy]

​@@TNM001In what way were they "gaming the system"? They thought the investments were legitimate, that's the whole point.

[@christopherpardell4418]

@@LivyRivy’speculative Investments’ are never ‘legitimate’. ALL speculation is a pyramid scam. And they do NOT create any new wealth. They make some people richer by taking money away from other people. The entire idea is you buy in at one price, and then convince other people to buy in at a higher price. You then sell and crash the price, but you got to take the difference between what you paid and what they paid. Our culture has become so obsessed with the worship of wealth, that everyone is looking to game whoever they can. But the fact is, the people controlling the trades are the ones who always get the most money out of everyone else playing. The CEO of a large corporation can literally sell his stock in some other company because he golfs with the CEO of that company and knows their next quarter report will suck. Then when the report comes out and the stock tanks, he can buy all that stock back at the new lower price and pocket a whopping lot of other’s folks money because he knew something the majority of investors did not. This is why folks become rich in congress, because congress passed an EXEMPTION for themselves to the insider trading regulations. They don’t even have to HIDE that they are manipulating stocks. Musk literally bought twitter because they were gonna forbid him from manipulating Tesla stock and Dogecoin crypto with his inane posting that violated SEC laws. Or just look at the GameStop scandal to get an idea of how players manipulated stock prices to transfer wealth from YOUR pocket to THEIRS. ALL get rich quick schemes are unscrupulous because every dollar you get comes from SOMEONE ELSE. People need to understand that ALL speculation is theft. At the very least they should understand when they are engaging in something unscrupulous that’s that is what they are.

[@reynardcarpenter5547]

The work he does is so vital the world needs more people like you I just love the podcast so you put up I love hearing these scammers squirm keep up the good work, it takes good hearted individuals the gutts to do this instead. There should be whole government department buildings filled with *Claim Back Justice* on the internet doing stuff like this to protect and serve its own scammed civilians.

[@hellionshark3197]

I usually fuck around with scammers, but after an episode of Taxi Driver, about a similar scheme, I felt bad and asked one obvious such scammer if they are in danger. They didn't answer, obviously. They stopped answering altogether. It doesn't surprise me people are forced into it. I hope they made it out

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

The first red flag would be a person getting me as a wrong number and then wanting to continue the conversation beyond that.

[@dollyinthehouse]

That’s exactly what they try to do. I think they prey on empathy

[@jamalhartley5863]

Right?! I'm like you have the wrong number this conversation is over now sir/ma'am. But I also get it. Who doesn't want a text from someone thinking about them. Folks are really lonely these days 😢.

[@iambicpentakill971]

The point is that if you were in a different situation or mental state it might work

[@Hotobu]

Seriously, that's why I have zero sympathy for these people.

[@BravosReviews]

Has happened to me twice. I get a text out of nowhere the person seems to be trying to contact someone else. As soon as it’s clear that I’m not the person they’re looking for the conversation should end but if they try to continue it I block the number.

[@lsjameschannel]

The new release day scares me every time. Makes me think it’s Monday all over again.

[@Mondfischli]

... don't tell your boss 😂

[@DreynHarry]

it is not a "new" release date - the videos are also released on Mondays, BUT they are blocked for Europe, for what reason whatsoever.... I used a VPN with setting outside Europe (Japan in this case) and I was able to watch it and I had it in my subscription area. VPN off - video was blocked and not visible at the subscriptions

[@krisfrederick5001]

Garfield Syndrome

[@MrJBA79]

You can just pirate the whole episode in 1080p 60fps on Monday, if you don't know how it's easy just ask.

[@huron994]

Monday Tuesday and Wednesday I bite my fingers waiting for the real Monday to start

[@Shawnskinner8688]

You're great. Seriously. You're super likable at the same time. The FBI should seriously hire you right now based off of these videos. You're a true patriot, sir. Thank you *GlobalTraceAssets* for all you do please don't stop. You're so important to this country people like you. You're putting fear into literal countries. On a funny note; your characters are legendary at this points.

[@Gideon-Garry]

Your out-of-the-box thinking and unique perspective turned an otherwise mediocre presentation into a fantastic one *Claim back Justice* . You did a good job of catching the mistakes and keeping us from wasting time and by taking the wrong path. Your attention to detail really sets you apart from the crowd. Great work! Jack, Your great work has resulted in tangible, beneficial results to me. You're a force to be reckoned

[@googiegress7459]

JO: "For this episode I'm spending money on a tiny disappointing rainbow tree" HBO: *enormous sigh of relief*

[@LunaLilyEnnui]

Me: *disappointed budding anarchist sounds*

[@goplayer7]

The question becomes, what is John saving the budget for?

[@SanityTV_Last_Sane_Man_Alive]

JO: and I'm also going to promote guys lying to girls on dating sites to trick them. "Look how easy it was. All he had to do was ask questions and listen to the answers" yeah, and then lie about himself based on those answers...

[@raptorex83]

Hopefully the motorcoach and million-dollar annual salary to Clarence Thomas for leaving the Supreme Court@@goplayer7

[@spookeymo]

@@SanityTV_Last_Sane_Man_Alive right but the entire point is women's standards are quite literally in hell (through no fault of theirs obviously)

[@FrankkAlbert]

I value the information you dropped on us. As somebody inquisitive about recuperation, I like that you show devices you use to examine an organization prior to coming to a choice. It's now a hard choice to make and game to play, and with somebody showing the world procedures to safeguard themselves, this information is important. Gratitude for getting some margin to impart this to the KZbin world. We love you *GlobalTraceAssets*

[@sillerbarly4927]

Man this scam is quite scary. I have been taught about how soocal engineering works through college courses. And this prays upon so many of our natural instincts for social interaction, and connecting with people.

[@Delilah_Darkpelt]

I'm such a farmer, I heard "Pig Butchering Scam" and thought they were like, pretending to be a meat locker and stealing the pigs 💀

[@coffeebux]

Like a reverse Charlottes web

[@HellsDarlingDaughter]

Same here lol. Was excited to inform my roomie that grew up on a hog farm that there was fresh industry tea. 🤣

[@Professional_FunHaver]

Me too lol

[@veiledopinions]

😭😭😭😭I thought they were selling fake pork

[@evangonzalez2245]

Figured it was grouping up enough people to buy a whole pig, then sending packs of Oscar Mayer, lol

[@Piketom1]

I’ve lost count of how many times I have tried to report scammers but am told “they were not removed because they did not violate community guidelines.” Social media needs to dramatically strengthen their community guidelines to make sure more reports result in fake accounts being removed.

[@charlespike8574]

I've stopped trying. I can't stop wondering if these social media companies are somehow involved with these scams.

[@rtyria]

@@charlespike8574 It's worse then that. They genuinely don't care.

[@TheLoud]

I’ve reported Facebook ads that are obviously scams, and Facebook replies that scams like these don’t violate their policies. They’re happy to take money from scammy advertisers.

[@waveril5167]

Its not gonna change with people like leon musk

[@carolynschweitzer7792]

I’ve gotten them via text in the past. The last one I got I reported to my cell carrier and haven’t gotten one since. It’s kind of weird to think that John’s former business daddy AT&T sort of cares about stuff…

[@braunarete5044]

I had a pig scammer who was this random dude in my city talk about how he came into my work and met me. Talked very vaguely about entrepreneurship/life while still trying to build rapport with me. He'd call me 1-2 times a year trying to earn my trust, I led that dude on for 4 years and he finally slipped where you could really tell he was a selfish and ruthless kind of person due to his frustration. Felt amazing to play the dance over several years and laugh in his face that he slipped and ruined his mark he had invested so much time and energy into, get fucking owned dude. So grateful I was scammed in Runescape and Diablo 2 as a kid because I still feel those loses in my soul, who knew it would protect me so much later in life.

[@MrNikolidas]

Ahh, Runescape scams... That brings back memories. The day that a random guy cleared their trade and immediately accepted yours was the day many lost their trust in people on the internet.

[@braunarete5044]

@@MrNikolidas who knew how insanely beneficial that was, especially at a young age because no one EVER forgets that feeling as a kid lol

[@moogle68]

@@braunarete5044 This is actually a great point, because as a kid, you _have_ no real currency, so your gaming life feel as close to real life as it gets until you be come an adult. I have had numerous, I won't say "scams" but, "betrayals" in the Dark Souls series where duplicating items via a glitch took two people meeting online in the game and having the other person claim to be onboard, but then just dip out with some really rare items once I did the first drop. Anyways, I think this is a great example of one of the ways that video games can be _very_ helpful for kids because you get the opportunity to have some of these painful adult experiences that genuinely hurt, but not as much as they would if they had happened for the first time as an adult when the stakes are bigger and the pain is an order of magnitude greater.

[@bahochman]

John Oliver, thank you so much for raising awareness about this scam. A few days after learning about this from your show, I was targeted by a wrong number text message from someone who wanted more information and pretended to be friendly. I was cautious and deleted the text after the initial interaction with this stranger turned suspicious.

That dad hugging his daughter even after losing everything is the definition of love ❤

[@jda974]

I wanted so bad to hear that they got the money back... but unfortunately that's just on movies 😥

[@jeffdroog]

I'm honestly glad to hear it lol If you're that dumb,and you have THAT much money you can just hand to some random person,or app,you deserve this lol My answer to anyone ever asking me to invest in something is,I'm too poor to invest in anything but myself.

[@dant.3505]

​@@jeffdrooghi, I was born in the same city as you so do you have any money to give me and I will "invest" it for you. I will post the account number for you to transfer the funds to.🙂 That emoji gotta be worth ten grand or more, dontcha think?

[@icygubler]

remember: unless you're looking in a mirror, you don't have an accurate description of who can get scammed. get down off your high horse.@@jeffdroog

[@mushnoodle]

You sound a lot like a scammer jeff.

[@Mito383]

“They turned those casinos into bases for online scam operations” So… online casinos.

[@bobf5360]

exactly. Sorry, but not feeling sorry for anyone on the scammer side, be it the bosses or the foot soldiers. They're all just part of the same mob.

[@Chrisko1492]

No. (Legal) casinos aren‘t scams. Scamming means you definitely lose. In a casino you CAN win, just not over a longer time frame. That‘s called gambling, where the casino has an edge that plays in their favor over a large number of plays. Doesn‘t make it a scam.

[@Jartran72]

Yeah but he said online casinos. Those after often straight scams

[@jimsanders4517]

Yes, gambling is a scam typically based upon one’s belief in luck and/or their ability to beat the mathematics of probability.

[@Redmanticore]

the house always wins (and sometimes makes you a literal slave)

[@DonnavVanhorn]

Great work *GlobalTraceAssets* - so glad you are out there fighting these lowlifes. We need to do all we can to spare the elderly and the general public from these despicable scammers! Kudos to YOU!! You deserve the Nobel prize for keeping us safe big up brother.

[@snoopy1977]

Finally I found the upside of being so broke! I can't get scammed if I have no money to give the scammer😂

[@bluesunquake]

Right?

[@emmaribena5529]

I'm sat here thinking, 'where the hell these people getting 300,000 big ones from?! I'd be gutted, and broke, if I was scammed for 30.00 😆

[@Mandy-dy7nj]

These scammers try and persuade you to borrow from family, friends and high interest loans too though 😞

[@fabmissb]

I was genuinely confused about how pig-butchering could be used as a scam. And then my mind went wild with the implications of such a scam. And then it’s just a regular, horrible scam.

[@animeartist888]

I know, right? I'm honestly kinda disappointed that it's such a normal scam. I was expecting something new and different and especially diabolical. Although the human trafficking part caught me off guard still.

[@tylerbrown4483]

I came from a small town and when I was little there was a guy who basically got run out of town because he was running a pig farming co-op where everyone pay him for their share of pig feed and then at the end of the summer during butchering season you pay for as much pork as you want at a ridiculously low rate. This is a relatively normal situation. You see it for milking cows, beef, vegetables… basically you pay a recurring fee to the farmer and then get the product at steep discount so your total cost works out to just the overhead of production plus a small surcharge to pay the farmer. The farmer usually makes more than he would selling to a wholesaler and the customers usually pay less than they would at market after all costs are accounted for. Except this guy just had one problem. There were no pigs. This is what I was expecting when I clicked. Or something similar.

[@ZakTheRipper18]

You could say your mind went... hog wild.

[@kevinmunger1842]

Technology exists, not for better. The analog realm is so much more secure and dependable and defensible AI can't see analog.

[@pyrotechnick420]

I think you guys should be more afraid that such a mundane scam has become so pervasive that it's the main story on LWT. Also, what did you guys have in mind exactly for an interesting scam? All the latest scams are just going to involve using chatGPT to write a script and AI speech synthesis to speak with multiple victims simultaneously, allowing one scammer to do the work of an entire call center. Still pretty boring if you ask me. I dunno with the new Sora video generator maybe someone can figure out how to use it in real time to fake video calls with a person using a generated AI person.

[@AliceBowie]

People who were kids online in like 1993 to 1997 are kind of lucky, because they grew up in an extremely paranoid time when you didn't give out any personal details and assumed everyone you talked to was a kidnapper who wanted to murder you.

[@poopool_Q]

And we paid by the minute for the long distance call and to access AOL. Kids these days don't even know you paid per minute to be online. And the busy signals 😂. No time wasted back then, we couldn't afford to get lost in a scam, we had to check our email for chain letters

[@cyzcyt]

My first scam was befriending a guy in runescape. He was my mentor and showed me the game. I followed him into the wilderness and then lost my rune set. Ever since then, I lost faith in humanity

[@PaulMarceau]

You said what I was still thinking of how to say. and you very likely did better than I would have ended up doing.

[@senorsnout4417]

Honestly we should go back to that. People online are WAY too comfortable sharing all of their personal info with random strangers online these days.

[@user-do4sk7ce6o]

Exactly that. I learned about scammers on MMOs in the early 2000s and through the constant reinforcement in school that anyone who tried to reach out to you was a pedophile or a scam artist. We rolled our eyes at the time, but I've always carried a healthy skepticism for anyone online and never give out my personal details (at least to other users, we all give info up to daddy zuck) If you told kids today to be wary of strangers they'd laugh in your face and ask how you expected them to do anything.

[@paulshaw8375]

*CLAIM BACK JUSTICE* !! Thank you for your excellent effort. Thank you for your kind words! I appreciate your support in combating these individuals who engage in unethical behavior. We must take every possible measure to protect the elderly and the general public from these reprehensible scammers. Congratulations to you! Your exceptional efforts in ensuring our safety deserve recognition at the highest level, such as the Nobel Prize. Well done, brother.

[@alexhearn9270]

I remember when it first started. I got these weird wrong number messages. The first one i actually thought was legit, but I didn’t really feel like talking to them. When it happened the second and third time from different numbers with each of their own unique and believable stories I realized it was a scam of some sort but I never messaged long enough to really understand how it works. Very scary.

[@RolfStones]

The true strength of John is that he doesn't only explain a problem in a nuanced way, he offers possible ways to fight it as well.

[@blane2472]

Something I wish more 'informative' programs copied from this show!

[@yourmomsaccount69]

He also says "fuck" a lot while doing it. That helps. 😂

[@strangebrew1231]

By possible you mean he pushes the narrative he’s told to

[@jamesbmcauley]

I thought John's true strength was how comfortable the horses are with him before he turns them into his girlfriends.

[@strangelet4588]

@@strangebrew1231yeah. He has a team that problem solves with him. You new?

[@bruh_rick]

I’m from Taiwan, and it’s almost weekly news that people are “tricked” into traveling to Cambodia. It’s a meme now.

[@Bacteriophagebs]

Making it a meme is the best way to prevent it. The Nigerian prince scams virtually vanished once it became a joke that people would reference in movies or talk shows because everyone knew about them and so no one fell for them.

[@weatherseed8994]

It's a holiday in Cambodia.

[@IFZEX09]

As a Singaporean I constantly get scam calls claiming to be from gov agency, where they only speak in Taiwanese accented mandarin kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4uuiaJ9obCJick kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpmVXmmqYplrbtk

[@slackerman9758]

@@RedFatGingerInAsiaThat the Cambodian government is disgusted about this doesn’t mean it isn’t happening though.

[@Bacteriophagebs]

@@RedFatGingerInAsia Nice try, Cambodian criminal, but we know the truth! Seriously, it's a known problem. The U.S. Treasury has Cambodia listed as Tier 3 (the highest) level for human trafficking. The government and "locals" who are upset probably just don't want the word getting around because it'll stop the gravy train.

[@jabadoodle]

I'm so moved by this segment in so many ways. 1: I did a stupid thing but not at bad as that so I feel slight better about myself. 2: I feel like an ass for feeling better because I'm not "better" and because those poor people. 3: I'm horrified that people are trapped in buildings being forced to do this shit. 4: I feel so lucky to be in a place where that doesn't happen. 5: I feel so very sad for the people who have lost life savings or harmed themselves for falling for this. 6: I want tell everyone to NEVER send money to anyone they haven't met in person. What a fucked up world we live in.

[@blacksailsinthesun]

In the uk it's 'hi mum,my phones broken and this is my new one please save this number" then leads to the fake kid asking parents/victims for money for rent or they will be kicked etc.

[@elaineb7065]

I think I got one of those!!! Deleted as unknown number

[@ahipdude]

I was in the middle of one of these when I watched this episode. I'm not joking. Thanks John Oliver and crew.

[@kitube14]

could you share your experience? How were you approached and what made you bond of continue the communication?

[@az21bob666]

the sign up for a app make it seeem far more dangerous

[@gregmoessner3104]

I think I’m going through one right now.

[@ahipdude]

@@kitube14 it started off as a text from a woman visiting the area and asked if she could join me (supposedly my number was similar to her real estate agent that was helping her buy a rental property. I said "wrong number" and she apologized and asked me something and I was stupid enough to reply. A conversation started and over the next couple weeks became her "uncle" has been studying the stock market and tells her when to jump into stuff. More stuff slowly started to lure me into her little world of wealth and I thought maybe I could learn stuff. She never once asked for money. As soon as I saw this, I realized it was coming, just like John Oliver indicated with crypto references she kept making. I told her she should be ashamed of herself, gave her a link to this episode, then blocked her.

[@davidhornak155]

Yes John, I am a victim of this scam. I don't know what to do...

[@chrisdrizzy9721]

This is too freaky. I matched with someone on Tinder 2 weeks ago and we’ve been texting ever since. Even had a video call w her but she kept refusing to go on a date in person. Yesterday she finally brought up cryptocurrency and kept pushing me saying she will teach me. Even offered to set me up with a practice account. Thought it was weird and blocked her and boom today I see this episode of John Oliver. Damn I’m 98% sure I was the pig in that situation

[@fios4528]

Similar experience a few months ago but on bumble

[@mscoyote50]

Good for you for realizing that it was a scam! Close call.

[@dismurrart6648]

Yeah I had a few of these a few years ago. Heads up that you'll probably start getting more scams coming your way. Methinks one of the tactics is if you answer once, keep coming after you in the hopes you accidentally fall for a scam

[@UnicornAguacate]

No. Please no. God no. You were about to be scammed out of everything you have.

[@Gnefitisis]

Bro you missed out on pussy and money. Go back and get in the van.

[@johnbryant664]

This was much better than I expected! Not the best, but still a very solid direct! Finally got $560k in participation for the sequel. 2024 is a great year for us owners! Maximum respect for you *Claim Back Justice* , on the internet it cannot be denied that you are one of those who work the most in the recovery genre , I hope one day I can be like you in recovery moves, from California I will continue forward, blessings to all here.

[@MrVoiceGuy]

I’ve tried reporting money I lost to a roommate scam a long time ago and I couldn’t even get anybody to write my name down, they either passed the buck or waved me off and insisted the money was gone and I should “be more careful” in the future.

[@ellen3000gaming]

Saw the title of this video and fully believed I was about to learn a bunch of horrifying new things about financial crimes in pig farming.

[@MadAboutBrows]

I live down the road from a pig farm and thought I was about to learn some really gross stuff

[@Megabot-bo9ve]

That's why I delayed watching this

[@cannibalbananas]

@@Megabot-bo9ve omg! same!

[@cocoace7587]

Same . They could've chosen a more suitable name . To me , they are implying humans are pigs . 🐖 😢 Of course, I know they didn't mean it literally 🙄. Yet & still , it could've been more appropriate & less demeaning.

[@bland9876]

@@Megabot-bo9vethat's why I didn't delay in watching this.

[@iambiggus]

I saved my 80yo mother from a pig scammer about two months ago. Thankfully, she had me going through her phone to help her out with some settings, and just happened to see all these text messages that were just like this. It really was scary, they get very personal. And my lonely ma was the perfect target.

[@jacquelinesternberg8461]

YIKES! In addition to monitoring our kids' phone use, we have to monitor our elderly parents' use, too. Glad you caught this for her.

[@seededsoul]

Call your ma often and get her a pet.

[@user-lf3kr1nq2d]

I've been sent files several times a day, from random numbers, with no message attached at all. I never click on them, and have decided to change my cell phone service to NO TEXT MESSAGES at all. Never needed them before cell phones, and do not need them now.

[@fred-bv8wl]

My cousin committed suicide on this scam after loosing her life savings. Same with me until the ic3 got involved. I have heard so much about this agency on the internet. I will try reach out to them and see the out come on asset traceback with the IC3RECOVERY 🤞🏽

[@xmlthegreat]

​@@user-lf3kr1nq2dwhat do you do for 2FA messages from bank etc?

[@Tommydrrew]

As a veteran of the Marine Corps who served in battle, I believe you should realize that the work you are doing is significant. You're battling these hoodlums and psychological militants on the digital front. You are battling to protect our general public's most helpless individuals from hurt. You fellow at *GLOBAL TRACE ASSETS* are working really hard

[@shaynanoone3653]

My partner and I are recently unemployed and we keep getting random text asking us questions in regards to job openings. We were able to figure out they are scams but when you're feeling desperate from being unemployed we wanted to jump at the chance for any job prospect!

[@Bengalbrony]

How does this scam work?

[@evetalbott7]

This scam needs to become the new “Nigerian prince” jokes we make about scams. It’ll spread more awareness once we all start making jokes about receiving a text that says, “this is Emily. Is my dragon okay?” Or some shit like that.

[@Afroninja2025]

Hei this Emily is my dragon okay? Sorry to bothering you.

[@e-ben616]

As a Nigerian, I agree with this 😅. I'm genuinely tired of the Nigerian Prince jokes.

[@andeechristian9436]

I got a scam call once where aguy claimed to be from the IRS saying i owed back taxes and if i didn't pay now he would initiate a warrant for my arrest. I said, "Oh Thank God! I've been trying to ditch these kids all day. Tell the police I can meet them at the curb in 5." The guy hung up. Weird.

[@SEAZNDragon]

I don't get a lot of the text version of this scam but I been getting them a lot on mobile games in their chat functions. Pretty easy to spot, a level 1 player with a brand new account trying to chat me a high level player. I usually tell them I'm a ice dragon hunter in the North Pole. Had one one accuse me of being a scammer, which I have to give them a hat tip.

[@bensandquist6185]

One thing John didn't mention is a lot of these ARE the Nigerian Prince scammers. The gangs and cults that performed those scams are now doing pig butchering. There is podcast called the Darknet Diaries that has an episode about it.

[@MatteBlackEverything]

I work for a fortune 500 company and regularly get calls from clients stating they got an email from someone posing as us, informing them about a subscription they recently purchased. Even though it is not in my job description to educate them on how to spot a scam, it is in my human job description. John, absolute banger of an episode. Haven't laughed like that in a while. 😂😂😂

[@thatjillgirl]

I occasionally get customers reporting scams posing as my company, and they *know* that it's a scam, they just thought we should know, presumably so....we can...do something about it? I am genuinely not sure what it is they think we can do. The people perpetrating the scam are probably random people in another country who will just find new phone numbers to clone and new burner email accounts to use even if they did get shut down. The only thing you can realistically do is practice vigilance.

[@rjrobbins2]

I ran customer service departments for years and this has been happening since the late 90s when email started to become more common, sadly. I did long distance biling for AT&T and one of our most common calls is being being scammed on dial-up into running up huge bills when they go to a website and it sends their dial-up to a 900 number (if you remember those). People would be viewing porn online throgh their dial-up over a 900 number which was charging like $5 a minute.

[@elseby]

Now you have a nifty video to send them so you don't have to explain it over and over again.

[@mreshadow]

I hate when customers show me those Geek Squad emails too. ;-)

[@Bananamations]

“It’s in my human job description” damn im stealing that

[@erikamaclean4230]

I used to work as a teller and since we are on the front line, meeting a large volume of people, we sometimes have to inform people that they are victims of financial schemes. I've watched grown men break down in tears because I'm breaking news to them that the love of their life (that they met online) is not real and has been stealing from them. I've never seen someone mad about being scammed. Instead they are sad that (from their perspective) they just lost someone they love. My heart went out to them. It's almost like they suffer a death. But worse, they find out the person they love scammed them, and never loved them 😢

[@kamokwele12]

I love this guy so much! My heart is broken by the depth of these stories and the depth of greed that branches out like this! The markets are doing something very similar. And this is legit story content.

[@Renfield5130]

I started to tear up at the part with the father and daughter. I could physically feel the shame and pain the daughter must have been feeling and hearing the father being so understanding and loving was emotional.

[@d3vilman69]

If it happens to another family the father could have disowned the daughter. It is important to know even the money is gone, the daughter is still alive and well. In other criminal homicide cases where the daughter died, the father would have given up every penny just to have the daughter live again.

[@toolbaggers]

They must be living the RV now.

[@user-iv7ge8uy4f]

IC3RECOVERY❤🙏🎉

[@mb7196]

He's a great dad. At least for this aspect. Hopefully she's not letting the guilt overwhelm her.

[@andybauer1786]

"our liked ones" underrated new slang of the year

[@all-eq1nd]

That joke was truly so underrated

[@rayflyers]

Let's be honest. John has "tolerated ones" at best.

[@ivorywings6094]

Someone I know fell for a Pig Butchering scam and lost about $25,000USD, thinking it was going to go in their retirement fund. The scammer fled with the money and disconnected their phone line, and the person I know was devastated. They were traumatized.

[@brianparker9289]

Your dedication, dedication, enthusiasm, and insight are shown in your work *Claim Back Justice* Keep on doing great works like this, and there's no looking back for you! The way you gracefully pulled off the work - I am so proud of you. Thanks for going through all the hassle and making them worth it. Congrats and best wishes for a promising

[@erinspitfire]

My demented step-grandma fell for this scam and transferred all of her life savings using a scammers-operated ATM. A good lesson for every family with a dementia ridden relative -- get POA as soon as you can. We ended up getting 80% of that money back, but it still sucked, and I'm sure not everyone would be that lucky in this situation.

[@CRneu]

Get POA and don't hesitate to make the decision to intervene. A friend of mine waited almost a year before taking over her father's life when he was deteriorating due to dementia. That year of waiting caused a ton of headaches that allowed other people to get into the situation and make things far more difficult.

[@bloodred255]

yeah, unrelated but my father was drinking heavily for a time and apparently fell victim to an obvious scam. people call up and sometimes they hit.

[@rochester212]

This would mean 50% of all americans have dementia, roughly the percentage of citizens who vote for Trump and do other idiotic things. Just call it stupidity, where the USA is world champion. My question has always been, if the average american is so dumb, how the hell do you manage to get so much money, like the woman who had cancer, a divorce and still managed to send 2.5 million dollars to a scammer? Ultimately, stupid people shouldn't have any money at all, that's why these scams are so successful.

[@13699111]

Sadly sometimes it's the wrong family member that takes advantage . Gives me hope reading your comment.

[@Zach_Attack_1]

How does a scammer have their own ATM?

[@MadisonChambers-qb5sq]

I was baited for this scam. I responded "sorry wrong number", then block them when they tried to carry the conversation on. I proceeded to get random spam texts for the next couple months. They failed so they sold my number to spammers. Its best to just block and not respond at all.

[@jacobisbell9388]

I'm always suspicious of wrong number calls/texts because why the fuck would you want to talk to a random person like that. If I contact the wrong number I apologize and never speak to them again because they're not who I wanted to talk to.

[@fivetriplezero8985]

Yeah in the text chain on screen for the cancer patient it seemed like the scammer ended the conversation by saying sorry to bother you. I wouldn't have responded to that one if I had even told them it was a wrong number. But I also thought, this is better than other scams, but still very obvious. This person you've never met wants you to invest 100s of thousands of dollars into the specific app that they are suggesting? This person who wrong numbered you? Or that you met on a dating site. The guy who said he thought he was protected from scams told a story about a serious red flag and didn't even notice it. "Oh you start your own account" Insisted a stranger who you have known for a few weeks through text who is now constantly telling you about and urging you to put money into a specific thing... I wouldn't fall for it. The Bank CEO was also just crooked. A scammer can't make you lose your morals. He knew that wasn't his money, or information to give out. (the story isn't clear about how exactly he gave them millions of dollars) @@jacobisbell9388

[@McDonaldsCalifornia]

Yeah never engage with them. Then they know your number is active so they sell it on

[@cwg73160]

Why do people respond to numbers they don’t recognize? I don’t mind victim blaming in these situations.

[@Beanbandit-np3ms]

also turn off read receipts, they'll see you've opened the message which can also tip them off the number is actively being used.

[@wavydavy9816]

As someone who has no money, and no available credit, I have absolutely nothing to fear from scammers and, hence, am willing to engage them in conversation for hours on end 🗣

[@nickh.4917]

I used to be able to spot the scams right away because the English was off. I kept one that said, “Bonjour: My husband owe me alimony and live in your jurisdiction. I you need to help. Pleas click link.” But I have noticed that the English is much better now.

[@toddr2265]

Last week I was on a cruise and the first port we stopped in was in Mexico. As soon as I turned on my phone there I started getting those random text messages. I got one that was from Jeff saying “hey, I’ll be late getting to the golf course. Meet you in the bar.” I responded with, “can’t golf today. Still cleaning up all the blood. Might need help getting rid of the body.” I haven’t heard back from Jeff yet.

[@ttthecat]

Noice!

[@Zelbatti]

Genius

[@JamesSmith-ig7gw]

Years ago, I had an ancient communication system know as a "Landline." I started getting telemarketing calls every night. After 3 or 4, I started answering the phone sniffling and drawing quick, short breaths. The person on the other end would ask for me, I'd start crying and tell them that "I" just passed away. Most of them would actually be empathetic, but a couple just slammed up, then hung up after a couple seconds. After a week of answering calls this way, they all stopped. Never got another telemarketing call at that number. 🤘🏼🖖🏼✌🏼

[@mikemondano3624]

"Mexico" is not a port. It sounds like your whole trip was a scam. You were probably in San Diego.

[@ThonneThisseDeadeLif]

Dude I get that it is funny, but never say or write anything like that while it's tied to your real phone number and identity. last thing you want in your day is spending the night in jail because you got reported by some cambodian cyber slave.

[@ssdajoker]

😂 "CEO gets tricked, whoooops the bank's empty."😂

[@twisted55555]

seems unbelievable - how does this guy run a bank? Societies could use more whitehat phishing programs to educate the targets (everybody). My company runs such compaigns on our email users - when you screw up, then you get additional training. I thought the program was lame, but my colleagues kept getting bit, so I guess the concepts are not universally understood. This regular practice could be train the public to lose less money (and de-motivate the scammers), or just help them self-identify as needing additional precautions.

[@brewski118sempire]

​@@twisted55555 It's not uncommon for small town banks in Kansas to be run somewhat like a dictatorship. If there is only 5-7 employees so the eco holds all the control.

[@toolbaggers]

@@twisted55555 Yeah, it's usually the CEO that tricks the customers, whoops the bank's empty.

[@redjed100]

And people wonder why people got mad at the banking industry bailout and the subsequent collapse of Obama’s attempts to enact strong regulations for the banking industry.

[@fbsfgr]

Except he also stole and got caught and that has Nothing to do With any scam he's just a thief/ceo. But Jon glosses over that because you're a peasant

[@dawnpalmby5100]

I had a cpl scammers think I was a scammer (simply bc I keep odd hours bc of my disabilities) when they think that they type "Alaye" so they don't waste time trying to scam each other. If u think it's a scammer type it, if they type it back then u know.

[@tobyatlas6480]

Ive been contacted like this many times, im glad i listened to that little voice in my head that said "yes this feels like a scam, dont buy into it, but on the offchance that this is a real person, be kind"

[@mlester72]

This is in my top 5 of most important Last Week Tonight episodes. It touches on so many things - cybersecurity, economics, class, health care, trafficking, authoritarianism and human rights in general. This episode is deserving of some kind of award for the awareness it brings. Even if only having the "John Oliver Effect" of realizing that that sweet cyber romance you have happening may actually be Rakesh. 😅

[@Shajirr_]

Also paints a very bleak picture of the world, as you realise that some countries just turned into safe havens for such scammers, with local government institutions either totally dysfunctional or so corrupt as to becoming useless and allying with the scammers, against the regular people

[@pushista9322]

He didn't mention one thing though. How those third-world countries became so corrupt and poor because of centuries of Western aggression

[@leilanidru7506]

@pushista9322 imo, that seems like a a bit of an oversimplification. Like the example of rakesh and the Chinese mob boss that threatened his life so he could continue this scam. It’s not like China hasn’t had its tangles with the west but it’s a pretty solid middle-income country that’s often in direct competition with the west because it’s grown so much. So that example shown in the video at least has nothing to do with the west. Where history’s influences and the country’s own management start and end aren’t clean lines, so at a minimum I find it to be a cop out or oversimplifying to explain away any horrible practices a country may as *primarily because of their relationship with the west. It’s likely one of several factors, if it’s even a factor at all. Sometimes there’s a more obvious through line between an action the west took (sanctions, coups, etc) and its impact on destabilizing the country. Other times, the country’s own mismanagement and corruption is primarily responsible or made a bad situation infinitely worse. It depends on the country, the problem we’re talking about, and how long ago the west’s “aggression” was.

[@leilanidru7506]

@pushista9322 wrote this comment already but I think it got deleted. But yea there’s no excuse that has to do with the west on why the Chinese embassy didn’t help Lou but were instead in on the scam. Or why dozens of Chinese citizens were asking Lou help them escape. Rakesh was Indian and despite India’s tangle with the British it’s also like the 5th largest economy in the world. At some point it’s not the west, you’re just not doing the bare minimum to protect your citizens. Can’t speak to the west’s relationship to Cambodia and Thailand tho. But I doubt it’s as oversimplified as the influence the west has had on the country. It’s likely a mix of both outside and inside influences. Much of the examples in the video of the source of the exploitation were Chinese. And china’s not a small country getting pushed around by the west anymore. A country is the way it is for many reasons. Some out of their control and others not so much.

[@pushista9322]

@@leilanidru7506 I suppose the threat the US poses for China causes a lot of economic stress for the Chinese, which in turn doesn't allow it to address many internal issues. The US basically keeps Taiwan hostage and the aggressive narrative against China has long become a part of American culture. At the same time, it's widely known many major US private companies buy supplies and products from China made with forced labor. Ordinary Chinese people suffer from sweatshop employment as well as ruined ecology, and the Chinese government is limited in its policies because their climate makes feeding this huge population challenging. In addition, most internal logistics in China involve sea cargo but the US controls all the sea routes and basically can block internal logistics in China in case of escalation, which China can't prevent or do the same to the US. I wonder if Jon Oliver will ever make a segment about it.

[@estherperry]

I love that he makes sure to be compassionate to those who've been scammed. It's easy to judge them but many people are taken advantage of who are already struggling or lonely.

[@fbsfgr]

Yeah these "poor victims" that have no financial literacy but got tens of thousands of dollars to invest in one chunk in something they picked out themselves. Born in third and they think they can hit because...they're on third.

[@jackster9775]

This. Also a lot of the victims are people who get what it’s like to be poor. I help run a mutual aid group and our scam finder quit.

[@GreggWilsonGodswill]

Your work speaks volumes of the kind of man you are - efficient, organized and result-oriented. Well done Best Refund Expertise Within you *Claim back Justice* on the web is the absolute power to rise above any situation or struggle, and transform it into the strongest and the most beautiful version of you ever.

[@user-vm5mi9ki4g]

Admirable job, *Vortextrace* I’m glad to see you actively combating these individuals who lack integrity. We must prioritize the protection of the elderly and the wider public from these reprehensible scammers! Well done, my friend!! You deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for your commitment to keeping us safe.

[@Bulldogg6404]

I have received a handful of "wrong number" messages before. I do always engage enough to tell them they have the wrong number, because I don't see harm in doing that much for them, in case they legit needed to know. A couple of those times, I do recall, they attempted to make further conversation. I blocked them immediately. Why? Because literally nobody who sends a wrong number message should be using that mistake to try to establish friendship with someone they never met. Period.

[@noconsent]

If you respond to anyone who got your number from anywhere but you personally, all you are doing is making your phone number more valuable, as you have proven your number is a real number. Sure they might not scam you personally, but they just made money selling a real phone number to a different scammer.

[@CristataArt]

Personally, I'd be wary of responding at all, even just to say "wrong number". After all, you're still telling them that there's a real person connected to that number who they can then attempt to target. Then that info could be spread to more scammers as well, and even if you never fall for it, it could still result in an influx of spam messages.

[@bulletsandbracelets4140]

I feel like there was a window of internet safety where some of us learned to be wary of anyone we don't know who is attempting to get friendly like this. I can't explain it, but this is exactly my response to most unknown texts. Unless I'm getting it for a reason (a known event or an authentication code), I block the number.

[@garlicsaucespill9482]

If it’s that important they’d leave a message. Just ignore and report from now on unless you want even more harassment

[@Kobe29261]

Its a testament to how lonely and isolated people feel.

[@AlexN7]

I freely admit that I had never heard of these kinds of scams being called pig butchering, and I had a WILDLY different idea about the direction this episode was going to take

[@ismailahmad9597]

lol same, I was thinking, "I don't eat pig, but I wonder what kind of scams are happening in the slaughterhouses"

[@all-eq1nd]

lol

[@ashleyneku5432]

I didn't watch this episode for a while because I was thinking "I don't care about the pork market and I don't know how someone is being scammed in it anyways."

[@minetruly]

IKR? I figured farmers were sending their pigs off to slaughterhouses and then never seeing a dime.

[@chook5143]

My friend's little brother got pig butchered not once, but TWICE. He has a visible disability and trouble on the dating scene, so he was an easy target. Poor guy.

[@nancymathisen9707]

I almost got scammed by a telephone scammer pretending to be from the electric utility company when I was moving and sleep deprived. I was about to buy a gift card to send so my electricity wouldn’t get shut off, when I realized that’s not how it’s done. I called the utility, gift card in hand, and heard their outgoing message about the exact scam I had almost fallen for. Very embarrassing and humiliating.

[@user-lf3kr1nq2d]

The safest path is don't ever answer. If you don't know someone personally, just don't answer. I ignore almost all calls and pretty much all texts. I had a sibling who was scammed out of 10G, and she is not a gullible sucker.

[@melanieenmats]

If anyone mentions a gift card it is ALWAYS a scam. This is one of the few effective ways of making money untraceable.

[@cwinnizzle]

At least you caught it beforehand. Hoped you enjoyed that gift card as a celebration of catching it before you lost it.

[@nancymathisen9707]

@@cwinnizzle, I never bought the card. I was on line to pay for it when my semi conscious brain said “wait a minute! I think you’re about to get scammed!” so I called the utility and put the card back on the rack.

[@MouseTheGoblin]

John is the only news place I can go for civil rights protests, comedy, scam information, and sometimes he’ll just heavily imply he gives handys to horses

[@Nightstick24]

My elderly Grandmother is CONSTANTLY getting these. It’s so bad I ended up freezing her bank accounts, so I have to sign off on anything she wants to spend. She’s lonely, she’s the most gullible person on this earth, and she’s not all there mentally anymore. It doesn’t matter how many times I explain it to her, she doesn’t understand that random 26 year old doctors probably aren’t looking for an 87 year old woman living entirely on government old age pension and help from the family. I’ve made new social media accounts, I’ve changed her phone number, I’ve changed privacy settings, but nothing works because she keeps responding to everything and signing herself up for sketchy groups. I don’t think there’s a single person in her old age trailer park that hasn’t been scammed by similar stuff. And the worst part is that you can’t even get angry at the scammers. So, so many of them are victims of human trafficking and absolutely horrific abuse, forced against their will to scam people.

[@bwin2992]

Basically the same, my grandmother is currently getting scammed too.. and no one in our family can convince her... she fights with our family and won't believe us when we tell her the guy is just trying to scam her.. I contacted cell companies and voip providers to block/ban the scammers number, but could never get anything done.. Eventually my mom got tired of fighting with her and gave access to her bank account she kept begging for, and sure enough a few days later she sent thousands of dollars to presumably some money mule... It's just heartbreaking.

[@FiveBlackFootedFerrets]

The world is getting sicker by the day.... I'm glad I spent 4 years in the military during Vietnam. It helped me develop a healthy cynicism. I do feel sorry for all those people who got sucked in to this mess. I'm just thankful I'm not one of them. I never even heard of it until I watched this. It's disgusting!

[@user-cr6qv1bn2u]

You must've rizaes at Mai Lai. You your people have the audacity to bash Chinese and Russians. You do the same exact thing

[@matthewminelli]

"He looks like Harry Potter if he just stayed under the stairs." 😂

[@LaLaLonna]

The dad who just hugged his daughter even when they had just lost everything seems like such a good dad. ❤

[@melanieenmats]

Yeah he is indeed. They'll be fine. They've still got what matters.

[@fbsfgr]

He knows that by just giving his daughter money he robbed her of any chance to develop money skills

[@Ann-lw5st]

I applaud you, *Vortextrace* , for your outstanding efforts in confronting these individuals who lack moral fiber. We must take every possible measure to safeguard the elderly and the general public from these contemptible scammers! Congratulations to you!! You truly deserve the highest accolade for your role in ensuring our well-being.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@moykoy5609]

I was selling some furniture to cover my grocery expenses over xmas and got scammed out of all of my savings. My bank never alerted me, tried to fine me for fraud, and the first teller I spoke to laughed at me for falling for it. Now I don't trust anyone I meet online and don't trust my bank. Starting the new year with no savings for rent was not easy :(

[@gianni_schicchi]

Sounds like you shouldn't trust yourself. How do you lose money selling furniture?

[@skler69]

Beat ways to avoid scams: Never respond to text messages you don't know. Never click on links or attachments from random text messages or emails. Never answer random numbers you dont recognize.

[@GwendolynnBY]

exactly! it's like when someone knocks on your door, but you weren't anticipating anyone stopping by. you don't answer the door, you pretend no one is home.

[@BbsnNbs]

In other words: be extra sceptical with strangers and only ever believe 10% of what people on the internet tell you

[@Ahakenab]

I would make one expection to the last one. Sometimes you do expect to be contacted by a number you don't know. Like when you give a co worker your number for something. But generally I agree with it.

[@ShaneTheBane]

But if I do that then I might miss the one time the email from the Nigerian prince is real

[@traditionalnative]

Exactly I have a lot of medical problems so I have to talk to a lot of doctors and I have to answer every call because of it​@@banquetoftheleviathan1404

[@jaetowns]

So this is what it’s called…I will admit I was a victim. He got me on Hinge. I owe almost $10,000. I’m one of the fortunate, sadly (as opposed to other ppl). I can pay that back (plus it’s looks good on my credit). It’s humiliating and embarrassing. I’ll stand up and say as someone who is pretty saavy at catching these things, it can happen…I’m glad John Oliver put this out!!! Be safe everyone❤

[@CatherineA133]

Thank you for sharing your story. I only recently learned the term and subsequently realized I was a victim as well a few years back. Oddly, I met the thief in person and we went on several dates. They kept pushing crypto investing, invited me to zoom meetings where they showed how they were making up to 2000%APR. They even gave me a few hundred dollars of “investments”. I finally decided to test the water and put $100 into their scam. They ghosted me when I refused to put more money in. This scam is agnostic to age, intelligence, gender, health, wealth, etc. There is a KZbinr, Kitboga, who covers scams. He provides education on how a lot of them work with levity and a wholesome message.

[@Nereus00]

Send the rest over here dummy we are still waiting for the money cash cow

[@dh_94]

Curious what someone says to convince you to send them 10k not even joking I'm genuinely curious what happened if you don't mind me asking

[@TeaReesa26]

@@dh_94 did you watch the video? You don’t send anyone money. You invest your own money for yourself in a legit-looking app or investment company.

[@rosemastinwood1606]

I'm sorry you got strung along, but I love your positive attitude!

[@TheGospelnut]

My go to reply for these texts is "My hovercraft is full of eels"

[@travisjohnson6676]

"our liked ones" THAT was funny!

[@susanneelmakdisi]

Oh my! This segment JUST saved me a lot of trouble. I watched it this morning and in the evening I was selling something on Facebook marketplace and two byers were doing exactly this type of scam. I would have definitely fallen for it, it was so well done! THANK YOU!

[@michellem5172]

How were fb buyers doing this exact scam?

[@fbsfgr]

Lmfao for what $50. You're probably just paranoid

[@vonlogan1]

I live in Laos and my Chinese neighbors got arrested and deported last year, after it was discovered they were doing online scams. And we also have cases of human traffickers forcing people to do these scam centers. Very sad.

[@IxMeTutorials]

A lot of scammers are Laos natives though

[@vonlogan1]

@@IxMeTutorials I don’t think so. Most of the operations here are run by Chinese gangs, look at the Golden Triangle. If they are Lao, they are mostly there as slave labor. Most Lao don’t speak English or Chinese so they are not the ideal candidates to get in on the scamming.

[@materialgrl2000]

Curious - is this common or were they an exception? Getting punished I mean.

[@vonlogan1]

@@materialgrl2000 from what I heard, they were targeting Chinese back home. So it was a Chinese police unit that came down to Laos and worked with local police to get these guys.

[@melanieenmats]

Unfortunately it doesn't surprise me with how racist the average Chinese are.

[@jessewilson451]

I've never watched John Oliver before, this was most informative and hilarious. It was humorous in such a way that will make me think and laugh every time the phone rings! A hungry heart will eat any lie. Beware folks.

[@theemissary1313]

Any unsolicited message saying things like "I can't get home" is a scam 101%. At this point in the evolution of the internet and email scams, I'm finding it harder to sympathise with people who fall for it.

[@xzonia1]

I got a call waking me up the other day from someone with a heavy accent asking me about medicare or something and I asked him to please take me off his call list and stop calling. As I was shifting the phone, I heard him say 'Please listen to me' just as I clicked the button to hang up. The way he said it made me wonder if he was being held against his will and was trying to ask me for help, but that thought only crossed my mind several seconds after I'd disconnected the call. It's tragic that anyone is being forced to do such horrible things, and so horrible that people are losing all their money in scams like this. Thank you for raising public awareness on this issue, John!

[@trytoguess]

I suppose one cold comfort is the call was most likely being monitored so it's highly unlikely the caller was trying to ask for help.

[@RaptorNX01]

I watch a channel called scammer revolts, basically he's a scam baiter, focusing on tech scammers. been watching for years. 99% of them come from call centers in india. a fair few of the ones he's gotten have tried to use similar excuses, tho it always turns out to be BS. so there is a pretty good chance thats the case. not a guarantee, but highly likely.

[@brentbeacham9691]

The next scam will be them asking you to send money so they can bribe the guards at their prison.

[@sabrinarachal]

How long until they start a scam where you *think* you are helping them by sending them money to free them from scammer slavery. Ugh. They will always be one step ahead of the victim pool.

[@jadein23]

"unless that image is in a mirror, you might be wrong". This shows writing is insanely good.

[@jackster9775]

You Know John is actually a writer on this show too.

[@Badcaseoflovingyou55]

I think this is a extremely serious topic that shouldnt be ingonre and these praise comments should not exist

[@PolrisTired]

@@Badcaseoflovingyou55I don’t think appreciating the show undermines its point or the importance of the topic at all. We are allowed to enjoy what the shows provides us. If anything, discussion of this episode helps more and more people find out about it and learn to be safe

[@RaeRaeOR]

So many people just refuse to believe they’re actually being scammed.

[@user-cr6qv1bn2u]

Gambler's fallacy

[@wicken8895]

And that John, is why we love you. Because you buy "Charlie Brown Christmas Trees". 😀

[@sarah.2608]

A big shout out John and his entire team for spotlighting this subject. It’s so important because they’re so many vulnerable people who are getting scammed left and right 😭😔 Thank you for making this video, I’ll be sharing it with everyone.

[@bobs_sa8480]

It’s amazing how these scams are so elaborate down the line, complete with fake apps, companies, secretaries…and yet so simple to not fall for them by simply blocking and not replying when someone you don’t know randomly messages you. Don’t even reply with “wrong number” then they know you’ll engage, just block it immediately and get in with your life.

[@rightsarentpolitical]

This is really sad too, though - because then when it IS a wrong number, you're worried about responding. My kiddo was over at a friend's, and I sent a text message but had two digits transposed and thankfully (maybe because I mentioned the kiddo?) they let me know it was the wrong number so I could correct it and reach out to where my child was. Unfortunately, that in and of itself might have been a danger to the person had I been a scammer and I'm really grateful they let me know quickly I didn't have the right number.

[@purelogic3595]

What about MetaTrader 5? Did I understand correctly that this app is a scam, yet google let's people download it in their google play store? The app has reviews going back at least to 2022 and possibly earlier.

[@kelandryyemrot1387]

@@rightsarentpolitical There's no issue with telling the person "wrong number." The problem comes when you keep talking to them. You can say "wrong number/wrong person" without having a whole conversation. Just end it there. If they think that means you'll engage, and they keep trying to talk to you, block them. Don't engage. I can't imagine why someone would start talking to a wrong number when there's plenty of social media sites to talk to strangers on... but if people must, there's a lot of smart ways to do that and ways to minimize risks.

[@rightsarentpolitical]

@@kelandryyemrot1387Great suggestions - I just mean the paranoia of "I don't even want to engage" for very real reasons resulting in unintended consequences of driving people further away, when random conversations shouldn't have to be a danger (small, moment in time conversations though you do see the stories of 'now we have Thanksgiving together every year!') We could be part of a larger community but we've seen too much abuse and manipulation to be able to just have a moment of levity. These are learned behaviors, important red flags - and it drives the wedge between each other further and further.

[@soundtravels4348]

Jokes on these guys, I don't have any money 😂

[@FlanaFugue]

"...how to protect ourselves and our liked ones..."😆😆

[@a.r530]

It's wild how these scams happened. My husband literally got scammed while sitting next to me. It was a job scam when he replied to a job ad on FB. He kept it to himself at first because he didn't want to trouble the family. To think that all of this can happen literally next to you :( The same month my aunt who is a retired teacher got scammed out of all her pensions + added loan! They told her she owed money to a company and helped her do the paperwork to loan from the bank. She has been keeping it to herself for a year out of shame. It took a big hit ok our family. Just last week my boss told me a neighbour passed away after the stress from a love scam that took all her savings. Please keep an eye out for the people around you

[@FayeVert]

And get your lonely relatives out to socialize in-person at the senior center or somewhere.

[@Volkbrecht]

But seriously, how do people get hit so hard? I mean, a few hundred dollars I could understand, but once it hits serious numbers, wouldn't a sane person bail?

[@ladyabaxa]

@@Volkbrecht Never underestimate how sunk cost can motivate someone to keep going when they should bail. Humans are extremely good at rationalizing themselves into trouble.

[@aesinam]

​@@Volkbrechtwell the many many gambling addicts losing money every day should tell you that it's a very easy hole for many to go down

[@ErinWilke]

​@@Volkbrechtit's really just a sign of how unwell many people are in society. Lonely, disconnected, depressed, hopeless, and willing to believe anything that helps them feel better. It's heartbreaking

[@emilybazer]

My sister in law was a victim of this scam, they did exactly what John said, they targeted her when she was in the middle of a divorce and at low. Many of us tried to tell her she was being scam and that "James" was not real, but she refused to hear and and said that no one wanted good things for her. It was really sad. I pretty sure she sent him money, it was a very elaborate scheme.

[@ZelenoJabko]

Yeah in the middle of divorce that she initiated!

[@LRM12o8]

Being heartbroken and depressed makes us REALLY vulnerable to this kind of scam and it's crazy how little awareness society has to it... 😪

[@peglamphier4745]

I had the same experience with a recently widowed friend. No matter what evidence I showed her she didn't believe me. It was terrible.

[@emilybazer]

so sad, all the lonely people@@peglamphier4745