A retired Indian civil servant lost 1.3 million to a "fake trading app" as the pig-butchering scam takes on a new form

[Crypto World] India recently had a huge scandal—a retired government official was scammed out of 12.8 million rupees (roughly over $130,000).

Here’s what happened: One day, the man was added to a WhatsApp group, where a bunch of people claimed to be financial experts and kept showing off their profit screenshots. Tempted by the success stories, he downloaded a “trading app” recommended by the group and tried it out with a small amount. Amazingly, he was able to withdraw his first deposit, which made him trust them completely.

Then the real scheme kicked in—the scammers said there was a chance to get in on an insider IPO, but he’d need to deposit a much larger amount to participate. He bit the bullet and put in a big sum. When he tried to withdraw, they suddenly demanded a 20% “commission” or threatened to freeze his account if he didn’t pay. That’s when he finally realized he’d been scammed.

Official data from India shows that these pig-butchering scams disguised as crypto investments have surged recently. Scammers are getting more professional: fake apps, building trust with fake accounts, dangling the promise of big returns—the whole process feels just like a real business.

Bottom line: Any platform that requires you to pay upfront before you can withdraw is basically a scam. Real exchanges don’t operate like this, and they certainly won’t pull you into groups to hype trades.