Pig butchering (romance-investment fraud)
Pig butchering is a long-con scam in which a fraudster builds a romantic or friendly relationship with a victim over weeks or months, then lures them into a fake investment — usually crypto — and drains their funds.
How to recognise
The grim name refers to "fattening" the victim with trust and small early "gains" before the final loss. These scams are run at industrial scale, often from organised compounds, and they are increasingly AI-powered: chatbots sustain the persona across many victims at once, AI handles translation to target any country, and deepfakes provide "proof" of a real partner on a video call. Victims are frequently hit twice, by fake recovery services that follow.
The single most protective rule is simple: never send money or invest on the advice of someone you have only met online, and verify any platform independently through official financial regulators before depositing anything.
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