Report a
pig butchering scam.

Pig butchering is a hybrid of romance fraud and investment scam, and it has become the single most costly form of consumer fraud globally. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center attributed $3.96 billion in reported losses to investment fraud in 2023 — the majority driven by pig butchering operations. The name comes from the Chinese term "sha zhu pan" (杀猪盘), which refers to fattening a pig before slaughter. The "pig" is the victim, the "fattening" is the weeks of relationship-building, and the "slaughter" is draining their savings.

The scam typically begins with an innocent-seeming message on WhatsApp, Telegram, LinkedIn, or a dating app — often a "wrong number" text. The scammer is patient, spending weeks building a friendship or romantic connection before casually mentioning that they've been making money trading cryptocurrency. They'll show you screenshots of their "returns" and encourage you to try it with a small amount. You're guided to a website or app that looks entirely legitimate — professional charts, real-time price feeds, and a sleek interface.

How the fake platforms work

The trading platform is completely fabricated. The charts are real (pulled from actual crypto markets), but the trades and returns are simulated on a backend the scammer controls. Your initial deposit of $500 quickly "grows" to $800 — and you can even withdraw that first small amount to build trust. This is the hook. Victims then deposit $5,000, then $20,000, then $50,000, watching their balance climb on screen. Some victims take out loans, liquidate retirement accounts, or borrow from family.

When you try to withdraw a significant amount, the platform suddenly requires a "tax payment" of 20–30% of your balance before releasing funds. If you pay it, another fee appears: a "security deposit" or "anti-money-laundering verification." Each new fee is calibrated to seem small relative to the huge balance you believe is waiting. In reality, every dollar you send goes directly to the fraud operation. The platform can vanish overnight when the operators decide they've extracted the maximum.

The human trafficking connection

Many of the people operating the keyboards in pig butchering scam compounds are themselves victims of human trafficking. Large operations based in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines recruit workers with fake job listings, confiscate their passports, and force them to run scams under threat of violence. This is why reporting matters beyond recovering your own funds — intelligence gathered from victim reports has led to international law enforcement raids that have rescued thousands of trafficking victims. The wallet addresses, platform URLs, phone numbers, and messaging accounts you report feed directly into these investigations.

If you suspect you're being set up for a pig butchering scam — especially if someone you met online is encouraging you to invest in crypto through a specific platform — stop and document everything before sending any money. No legitimate investment opportunity comes through a romantic interest on WhatsApp.