A pig-butchering scam is a type of online fraud where the victim is encouraged to make increasing financial contributions over a long period, usually in the form of cryptocurrency. The term compares the initial phase of gaining the victims’ trust to the fattening of pigs before slaughtering them. Such scams are commonplace on social media and dating apps, and often involve elements of catfishing (using false identities), investment fraud, and romance scams.
The scammer builds trust with the victim through online communication, subsequently persuading them to invest in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. Perpetrators are typically victims of a fraud factory, where they are lured to travel internationally under false pretenses, trafficked to another location, and forced to commit the fraud by organised crime gangs.
Scams often begin with casual conversations initiated by the scammer, who may pretend to have received the victim’s contact details accidentally or through a mutual acquaintance. These initial interactions are designed to build trust and may involve the use of attractive profile images to lure victims. As trust is established, the scammer introduces the victim to a fraudulent investment scheme, promising significant returns in a short period. The scammers use persuasive tactics and counterfeit investment portfolios to convince victims of the scheme’s legitimacy.
After persuading the victim to invest, scammers collect funds, often through digital payment platforms or cryptocurrencies, to complicate tracking and tracing of the transactions. Once a substantial amount has been collected, or when victims attempt to withdraw funds, scammers become unreachable, delete their online presence, or create new identities, leaving the victims with no way to recover their funds. Furthermore, the scammers develop fake brokerage websites and mobile applications to add legitimacy to their scheme, making it difficult for victims to distinguish them from genuine platforms.
In the early phases, the scammer may pressure the victim to invest quickly, offer extravagant gifts which require the release of money, claim difficulties in withdrawing funds from supposed investment returns, and give inconsistent or vague details about the investment. A scammer will often try to isolate their victim by monopolizing their attention away from loved ones, who may otherwise realize the victim is falling prey to a scam.
Scams can be detected using simple precautions. To avoid being scammed, experts recommend that persons conduct due diligence and verify the identity of the fake persona, such as by asking for their long-used legitimate LinkedIn and Facebook accounts with their verifiable family and colleagues in their social network. Scammers get angry and abusive when pressed for verifiable details for them or their investments scams.
To avoid being detected, scammers also often avoid giving out their WhatsApp number, and prefer apps where their phone number is hidden such as Telegram or WeChat. Many scammers obtain their own WhatsApp-linked fraudulent phone number through a burner phone, virtual number, phone number mule, or caller ID spoofing, and then avoid videocall verification.
Experts also recommend that potential victims insist on multiple, long videocalls to verify the identity of the potential scammer, confirm the identity of mentioned companies with registration and regulatory bodies, not invest in any scheme through people met online but not in person, cut off contact with potential scammers and their platforms, and immediately alert local, state, or federal authorities and loved ones. Legitimate opportunities rarely require rushed decisions.
Pig-butchering scams began in 2016 or earlier as a regional scam in China, originally finding their victims on same-sex dating sites before expanding to opposite-sex dating sites as well. The modus operandi later spread throughout Southeast Asia at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Sihanoukville, Cambodia—once a prosperous gambling town—many local gambling gangs transformed casinos into scam operation centers performing pig-butchering scams. This was likely a result of a lack of casino attendance on account of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Cambodian government cracking down on commercial gambling.
Many operations are also run from areas of Myanmar which are outside central government control because of the ongoing civil war, with one important hub being the town of Myawaddy in Kayin State, near the border with Thailand. According to the UN Human Rights Office, hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked and are trapped in scam centres in Cambodia and Myanmar, with other operations being run from Laos, the Philippines and Thailand. Many of the groups that run pig-butchering scams are overseas Chinese criminal syndicates based in Southeast Asia, who traffic ethnic Chinese and others into fraud factories and force these people to commit the fraud.
The 2023 failure of Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, Kansas, United States, was directly tied to a pig-butchering scam; CEO Shan Hanes was discovered to have embezzled $47 million from the bank in an attempt to secure his presumed funds. Hanes was charged in federal court with embezzlement and pleaded guilty in 2024. He was later sentenced to 24 years in prison.
An important aspect of countering pig-butchering scams involves tracing stolen cryptocurrencies. This process is intricate due to the decentralized and pseudo-anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies. In 2022, the FBI set up the Virtual Assets Unit, with the express remit of addressing cryptocurrency-based financial crime. The process typically begins with the collection of relevant transaction data, such as transaction IDs and wallet addresses associated with the scam. Advanced blockchain analysis tools are then employed to trace the path of the stolen funds. These tools can identify patterns and link different transactions to specific wallets, which are essential in building a case against the perpetrators.
The psychological impact on victims can be severe, as they face financial ruin and the loss of what they perceived as a genuine, intimate relationship. These types of scams are particularly insidious because they play on both the financial aspirations and emotional needs of individuals, leaving victims feeling betrayed, embarrassed, and reluctant to discuss their experience with others or report it to authorities.
The Daily Omnivore 
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