What is a Pig Butchering Scams?
How It Works — Step by Step
- Contact initiated via random text ('wrong number'), dating app, or LinkedIn — often a beautiful stranger
- 'Fattening' phase (weeks to months): daily conversation, emotional bonding, appearing wealthy and successful
- Naturally mentions crypto investment success; offers to 'teach' you using a connected platform
- Victim invests small amount, sees rapid large gains on the fake dashboard
- Allowed to make small withdrawals to build trust
- Encouraged to invest life savings, retirement funds, take out loans
- 'Slaughter': withdrawal blocked (claims taxes, fees, regulations), or platform vanishes
Top Countries (Victims)
Top Platforms Used
⚠️ Warning Signs
- Random contact from an attractive stranger via text or social media
- Relationship develops unusually quickly, they seem almost too perfect
- Discussion of crypto or investment very natural and gradual
- Recommends a specific trading platform you've never heard of
- Huge profits visible but you're told to invest more before withdrawing
- Platform is only accessible through a specific app or website
- When you try to withdraw, there are fees, taxes, or 'compliance requirements'
✅ How to Protect Yourself
- Be very skeptical of unsolicited contact from strangers, especially attractive ones
- Never invest on a platform recommended by someone you only know online
- Research any investment platform independently — not through links they provide
- Verify the platform with your financial regulator before depositing anything
- Talk to someone you trust IRL before making any investment decisions
- If you can't find a platform on App Store/Google Play, it's almost certainly a scam
Real Cases from Our Database
US: Is this a new kind of scam? I occasionally get those pig butchering scam texts and I just delete them. Yesterday, I got a text from an unknown Florida number. I don’t live in Florida or know many ...
US - Pig Butchering or Sophisticated AI? Got followed and then followed an F on Threads. I pursue these on occasion to check out their angle and maybe troll them, figure out their scam, and eventually...
[US] Pig Butchering Scam using Real Crypto Apps? **Who:** My Ex-Wife and her Grandmother **What:** I'm 99.9% sure they're being scammed. They're supposedly "making money" with Grandma's "country singe...
[US] in-laws being tempted into what we think is a pig butchering scam I'll try to keep this succinct. My in-laws recently told my husband that the son of one of their close friends was offered "a gr...
[US] Whatsapp Investment Scams: Here are three potential candidates The other day, on a lark, I accepted an invite to a group on Whatsapp. I was almost immediately joined to three different groups, al...
[US]Whatsapp scams? What to think about these. The other day, on a lark, I accepted an invite to a group on Whatsapp. I was almost immediately joined to three different groups, all supposedly dealing...
I lost $30,000 in a "pig butchering" scheme, which I borrowed I feel really bad. I lost $30,000 in a "pig butchering" scheme, which I borrowed. I have IP addresses and fingerprints of the "trader," th...
[US] New pig butchering approach? I got a weird email that gave me pause because I have, in fact, made some terrible choices in romantic partners in the past and suffered for it. Assuming those people...
[US] Girlfriend’s friend seems to be involved in a common Crypto scam I’m 100% sure it’s a scam, her friend had invested some sort of amount of money into a crypto platform called “coinmarket” and she...
[EU] I got scammed in a pig butchering scam, and now the same person seems active again, how do I warn others safely? Hey everyone, Some time ago I was involved in a scam that followed a long-term tru...
When pig butchering ends before it begins.... Got txt from a random number. Typical pig butchering attempt. Decided to be "wham, bam, thank you maam". I know I confirmed that my number is live - yet I...
Pig butchering scam or relationship scam? Confused at a family members identity dissolving Hello. A family member of ours has been “in a relationship” with someone for a year now. They only speak to ...
📋 Where to Report Pig Butchering Scams
- FBI IC3 (ic3.gov)
- FTC (reportfraud.ftc.gov)
- Global Anti-Scam Organization (globalantiscam.org)
- Your bank if funds were transferred