What are pig butchering scams?

Pig Butchering Scam Playbook

These scams often start with casual outreach via text messages, dating apps, or social media/messaging platforms to engage individuals. The text messages may seem harmless, but they are designed to start a conversation that leads to ongoing communication. Scammers are trained to use a variety of conversation techniques (e.g. feign romantic interest, mirror shared hobbies) to gradually develop a relationship with their target and gain their confidence. Scammers can spend weeks, or even months, in casual conversation with their targets before introducing the scam.

Many times, Scammers engage with their targets through fake social media profiles with attractive personas. They may flaunt a lavish lifestyle to appear successful, which often leads to conversations about investing and crypto, at which point they will introduce the scam.

Scammers won’t directly ask for money from their targets. Instead, they will introduce the scam through some sort of unique crypto trading platform that promises huge returns in short periods of time. In reality, these platforms are fraudulent; no real trading occurs and the Scammers have complete control over the platforms.

Once a target is convinced to invest, the Scammer will then guide their target to convert their cash into crypto through a publicly known crypto exchange, crypto ATM, or digital wallet service, and then transfer crypto over to the fraudulent platform. Please note that these crypto services are generally not in on the scam; these are just channels used by scammers to carry out their schemes.

“just fake numbers on a screen…”

These fraudulent platforms are designed to mirror the look and functionality of a real trading platform (e.g. real-time price charts, help desks, etc.) and may be available as mobile apps on the Apple App Store/Google Play. However, everything on the platform is fabricated (especially your account balance). These platforms are designed to keep targets engaged on the platform while finding other targets to scam until it is time to make off with stolen funds and shut down the platform.

Put this all together and this is what a pig butchering scam operation looks like behind the scenes:

So what can I do if I encounter a crypto scam like a pig butchering scam?

The key thing is to report the scam to any financial regulator or law enforcement agency as soon as possible. The window of these scam operations are very small, so not only is it important to report an incident quickly, but it is also important to provide the right details at the start. Click here to submit a complaint to DFPI: https://dfpi.ca.gov/submit-a-complaint/