You’re scrolling through a dating app or maybe just checking your social media, and an attractive, friendly-sounding stranger connects with you. They seem genuine, interesting, and maybe even a little romantic. Over weeks, maybe even months, you build a relationship of trust. You feel safe, understood, and a little excited.
Then comes the "opportunity."
This is the start of a terrifyingly successful, long-term scam known as "Pig Butchering." It's a deeply cruel con where criminals spend time "fattening up" their victim (the "pig") with a fake relationship before leading them to a bogus investment platform and eventually disappearing with all their money (the "butchering").
How This Long-Term Scam Works
Unlike quick phishing emails, Pig Butchering requires patience and psychological manipulation. Here's the playbook the cybercriminals use:
1. The Setup: Building Trust
The scam often starts with a seemingly random, mistaken text message—something like, "Hey, did you get those tickets for the concert?" When you reply, they apologize, but then keep the conversation going. They’re charming, they share personal stories (all fake), and they listen. They work hard to create a sense of genuine emotional connection over weeks or months. This emotional bond is the trap.
2. The Hook: The "Secret" Investment
Once they establish a high level of trust, they introduce a financial opportunity. It’s always an exclusive, get-rich-quick scheme, usually involving cryptocurrency, foreign exchange (forex), or stocks.
They tell you they have an insider's secret or a special platform that guarantees massive returns. They encourage you to try it with a small amount of money.
3. The Bait: The Illusion of Success
This is the "fattening" phase. You invest a small sum, and immediately, your balance on their website (which is totally fake) starts showing massive returns. They might even let you withdraw a small profit to make the entire thing feel incredibly real and successful. They praise your smart moves and gently push you to invest more—maybe your entire savings, or even money borrowed from family or loans.
4. The Kill: The Butchering
Once you've poured a large amount of money into the fake platform, two things happen:
- The site locks you out: You suddenly can’t access your "profits." When you panic and ask your "friend" for help, they might demand one last "tax" or "fee" to unlock the account.
- The "Friend" Vanishes: After you pay the final fee (or refuse to), your online friend disappears forever. You realize the entire relationship, the entire investment, was an elaborate, months-long fraud. Your money is gone, and so is the person you thought you knew.
How to Protect Yourself from the Chop
- Be Wary of Strangers: Never trust investment advice from someone you only know through social media, a gaming platform, or a dating app. The combination of romance/friendship and finance is the biggest red flag.
- Verify the Platform: Before investing anything, look up the company or platform. Search the name plus words like "scam," "review," or "fraud." Check if it's registered with government financial regulators.
- Never Pay to Withdraw Funds: If a platform demands a fee, tax, or commission before you can take out your profits, it is a guaranteed scam.
Protect your wallet and your heart. Don't let a criminal use a fake relationship to fund their crimes.
