The Pig Butchering Lifecycle

Organized criminals use a highly scripted process and human trafficking to get as much money as they can from individual victims.

“Pig butchering” refers to a sophisticated, devastating type of financial scam. The name comes from the practice of fattening a hog before slaughter, except the criminals are manipulating you to invest as much of your money as possible into fake cryptocurrency or other online investments. 

These criminals are very good at what they do, combining elements of social engineering, romance scams, and investment fraud to steal millions of dollars each year.

How Pig-butchering Scams Work

1. Grooming the Victim

Scammers contact targets through dating apps, social media platforms, or unsolicited text messages. At some point, the scammer encourages the target to shift the conversation to an encrypted messaging platform like WhatsApp or Telegram. They invest time in understanding the person’s financial situation, family dynamics, and work to build a deep emotional connection. Scammers often spend weeks building these relationships.

2. Introducing Investment Opportunities

Scammers often drop subtle hints about a once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity early in the relationship. They show pictures of a lavish lifestyle or talk about expensive purchases and experiences. Once scammers have gained a target’s trust, they introduce an exclusive investment opportunity, often claiming they’ve achieved significant financial success through it.

3. Establishing Credibility

To make the scheme seem real, scammers share fake screenshots and trading-platform dashboards, stories of friends or an “uncle” who knows how it all works and who made massive profits, along with professional-looking documents and websites.

4. Starting Small to Ease Doubts

Understanding that a target may be skeptical, scammers encourage a small investment to build their confidence. In some cases, they have the person “test” the platform — only with fake money — to help them get familiar with how it works and build comfort with the process. After the first deposit, scammers generate fake returns that quickly show impressive “profits,” often accompanied by just enough technical jargon to sound convincing.

5. Using Psychological Pressure

Scammers apply subtle pressure to encourage large investments. They may warn that the opportunity is time-sensitive or that delays could result in missing out. They create a sense of urgency by referencing market trends, insider tips, and limited-time offers. Having already formed an emotional bond, they may suggest — directly or indirectly — that the relationship hinges on the victim’s continued participation.

6. Draining the Victim: The “Butchering” Stage

As the target invests more, the scammers escalate their efforts to extract as much money as possible. They encourage larger investments by showing exaggerated profits. When victims try to withdraw their money, they’re met with requests for more “fees,” account upgrades, or unexpected taxes to access funds. By this time, people are often so emotionally and financially invested that they continue to trust the scammer. In many cases, they’ve borrowed money from friends, liquidated retirement accounts, or sold assets to invest or pay fees.

7. Leaving the Victim Devastated

The scammer prepares to cut off contact as the victim invests more funds. This can happen suddenly, with the scammer disappearing entirely, or in stages, such as claiming the account has been “frozen” due to regulatory issues, requiring even more fees. In the end, the scammers take the money and run: They disappear, leaving victims with no way to contact them or recover their lost assets.

Survivor Stories from Our Blog