Turning the tables on online romance scammers
Tech Life
BBC
4.4 • 221 Ratings
🗓️ 6 August 2024
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's called Pig Butchering - a cruel romance scam which has victims around the world. The BBC's Cyber correspondent, Joe Tidy, was targeted online. He played along to learn about the con and then turned the tables on the scammer, known as Jessica. Joe tells us what happened. Also on Tech Life, we find out about a digital detox. And we hear about the role played by artificial intelligence in discovering an important new antibiotic.
Presenter: Chris Vallance Producers: Imran Rahman-Jones and Tom Quinn Editor: Monica Soriano
(Photo: A red paper cut-out of a heart shape, torn in the middle, resting on a computer keyboard. Credit: Pla2na/Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, so I'd like to tell you where you'll find more just like it. |
| 0:05.6 | I'm Izzy Lee Poulton, an assistant commissioner for BBC Sounds, which means I'm involved in the whole podcast making process. |
| 0:12.2 | Whether that's developing fresh formats or facilitating eye-catching artwork, I helped project manage all the details that make our podcast stand out. |
| 0:19.7 | At the BBC, we've got access to storytellers |
| 0:21.9 | and experts across a huge range of subjects. It could be psychologists, comedians, celebrities or |
| 0:27.7 | journalists, no podcast or day, looks the same here. So no matter what you like, check out BBC |
| 0:33.3 | Sounds. There's probably another podcast on there that you're absolutely love. |
| 0:37.9 | Welcome to TechLife from the BBC World Service, the program that's about the tech affecting |
| 0:42.7 | your life wherever you live in the world. I'm Chris Valence. Today, the BBC's cyber correspondent |
| 0:49.2 | gets targeted by a nasty romance scam and decides to play along to expose the con. |
| 0:55.7 | Pig butchering scams are ones where they offer some sort of romantic relationship |
| 1:00.6 | and then after a while they convince you to invest in a scheme, usually a cryptocurrency scheme, |
| 1:06.3 | and then they fatten you up by getting more and more money from you and then they leave you. |
| 1:10.2 | They slaughter you. We try to escape more money from you, and then they leave you. They slaughter you. |
| 1:14.6 | We try to escape the endless flood of alerts and notifications. |
| 1:17.8 | Ah, stop, stop! |
| 1:24.5 | And I speak to the head of the team which used AI to discover a groundbreaking new antibiotic. |
| 1:47.0 | First on Tech Life, a dark story about online scams. |
| 1:49.4 | We're all fools for love. |
| 1:51.8 | We all want companionship and romance. |
| 1:55.7 | And when a message from an attractive stranger drops on Instagram, |
| 1:58.3 | well, many of us would be interested. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -237 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.