The Pig Butchering Lifecycle

The crime of pig butchering refers to a sophisticated and devastating type of financial scam, typically involving cryptocurrency or other investments. It combines elements of social engineering, romance scams, and investment fraud.

Here’s how it typically works:

The Scam Process

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 messages. They build trust and rapport over long periods of time, “fattening” their victims both emotionally and financially.

Once scammers have gained the 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 the scam from emotional grooming to financial exploitation.

2. Introducing Investment Opportunities

Scammers present the investment as a golden opportunity, often claiming that they or their “friends” have achieved significant financial success through it. They frame it to align with the victim’s emotions, goals, or aspirations, building on the trust established earlier.

3. Ensure Initial Wins

To make the scheme seem legitimate, scammers use various tactics to establish credibility, such as:

• 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: The scammer often sends highly polished documents, websites, or links to what appear to be legitimate investment platforms.

4. Start Small - Ease Initial Doubts

Scammers know that victims may be hesitant to invest immediately, so they:

• Start Small: They suggest a modest initial investment to make the opportunity seem low-risk.

• Fake Returns: After the first deposit, they create fake returns to show immediate “profits.” Victims may be able to “withdraw” this small amount to build trust.

• Complicated but Believable Processes: Scammers explain the 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:

• Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): They emphasize that the opportunity is time-sensitive, suggesting that profits will diminish if the victim doesn’t act quickly.

• Building a Narrative: 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.

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 are cut off entirely.

7. Escalating the Scam

Once the victim invests, scammers escalate their efforts to extract as much money as possible:

• Encouraging Larger Investments: They show exaggerated profits and encourage the victim to reinvest or deposit more money to unlock higher returns.

• Hidden Fees: They introduce fake fees for account upgrades, withdrawals, or taxes that the victim must pay before accessing their funds.

• Leveraging Trust: By this point, the victim may be so emotionally and financially invested that they continue to trust the scammer, even when doubts arise.

8. Covering Tracks

As the victim invests more, the scammer gradually prepares to “cut off” contact. This can happen suddenly, with the scammer disappearing entirely, or in a staged manner, such as by claiming the account has been “frozen” due to regulatory issues, requiring even more fees to resolve. The scammers disappear, leaving victims with no way to recover their lost assets.