What Is Pig Butchering? How Do They Do It?
Using highly scripted processes and human trafficking, organized criminals manipulate victims to get as much money as they can.
The criminals behind pig butchering and crypto fraud are very good at what they do. They have a specific process that uses social engineering, psychological manipulation, and investment fraud. These aren’t random individuals but transnational organized crime groups that use victims of human trafficking to commit their financial crimes.
Their goal? To gradually get as much money from their victims as possible, then cut contact entirely.
Key points
Pig butchering manipulates victims socially, psychologically, and financially.
Transnational organized crime groups operate on an industrial scale.
These groups use a human-trafficked workforce to commit their crimes.
Pig butchering refers to a sophisticated and devastating type of financial scam, typically involving cryptocurrency or other investments. The name refers to the practice of fattening a hog before slaughter. Here’s how it typically works:
1. Grooming the Victim: The “Fattening” Stage
Criminal scammers, often part of well-funded, digitally savvy transnational organized crime groups, establish contact with their targets through dating apps, social media platforms, or unsolicited text messages. They build trust and rapport with their victims over long periods of time, “fattening” their victims both emotionally and financially.
Once scammers have gained a victim’s trust through emotional manipulation and consistent communication, they strategically pivot to introducing what appears to be a lucrative investment opportunity. This step is crucial in transitioning from emotional grooming to financial exploitation.
2. Introducing Investment Opportunities
Scammers present a crypto investment as a golden opportunity. They often claim that they, a relative, or their friends have achieved significant financial success by investing. They frame the opportunity to align with the victim’s emotions, goals, or aspirations, building on the trust established earlier.
3. Establishing Credibility
To make the scheme seem real, scammers use several tactics to establish credibility. For instance:
Fake screenshots and dashboards: They share doctored images of trading platforms or account dashboards showing massive profits to create the illusion of success.
Testimonials: They may introduce fabricated stories of friends, colleagues, or themselves achieving financial independence through the same investment.
Professionalism: They often send highly polished documents, websites, or links to what appear to be legitimate investment platforms.
4. Starting Small to Ease Initial Doubts
Scammers know that victims may be hesitant to invest immediately, so they suggest a modest initial investment to make the opportunity seem low-risk. After the first deposit, they create fake returns to show immediate “profits.” At this point, they may allow victims to “withdraw” this small amount to build trust. Scammers explain the complex system with just enough technical detail to sound authentic without overwhelming the victim.
5. Using Psychological Pressure
Scammers apply various forms of subtle pressure to push victims to invest more and more money. For example, they manipulate victims using:
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): They create a sense of urgency to build the victim’s fear of missing out. They emphasize that the opportunity is time-sensitive, suggesting that profits will diminish or the opportunity will disappear if the victim doesn’t act quickly.
Attractive Narratives: They spin stories about market trends, “insider tips,” or the success of others in the same program.
Emotional Leverage: Having groomed the victim emotionally, they may imply that their relationship or trust depends on the victim’s participation in the investment.
6. Draining the Victim: The “Butchering” Stage
As the victim invests more, the scammers eventually take all their funds. When victims try to withdraw their money, they’re met with excuses, requests for more “fees” to access funds, or they’re cut off entirely.
7. Escalating the Scam
Once the victim invests, scammers escalate their efforts to extract as much money as possible. They encourage larger investments by showing exaggerated profits and convincing the victim to reinvest or deposit more money to unlock higher returns. The scammers introduce fake fees for account upgrades, withdrawals, or taxes necessary to access their funds. By this point, the victim may be so emotionally and financially invested that they continue to trust the scammer, even when doubts arise.
8. Leaving the Victim Devastated
The scammer gradually 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 to resolve. 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.
So how can you and your friends fight back against organized, manipulative, ruthless criminal organizations? You can start by joining Operation Shamrock today.
Check out our victim resources if you or someone you know has been a victim of a scam.
Learn what this process looks like in the real world in our survivor stories.
