Pig Butchering Scams: How Romance Crypto Investment Fraud Works

A pig butchering scam is a crypto investment fraud that starts as a friendship or romance with a stranger, moves to a fake trading platform showing big gains, and ends with a demand for taxes or fees before you can withdraw. Then the scammer disappears with everything you sent.

It falls under crypto investment fraud, the most expensive kind of fraud Americans report. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says in its 2025 annual report that “cryptocurrency investment fraud was the highest source of financial losses to Americans in 2025,” with $7.228 billion in reported losses from 61,559 complaints. The losses rarely come as one hack. They build up one deposit at a time while the victim thinks things are going well.

What is a pig butchering scam?

A pig butchering scam is a long-con crypto investment scheme where the scammer builds trust over weeks or months before taking the victim’s money. The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) explains in a September 2023 alert that the scams “resemble the practice of fattening a hog before slaughter.” The name comes from a Chinese term, “sha zhu pan.”

FinCEN breaks the scheme into four stages:

Stage	What happens	What it looks like to you
1. Initial contact	A stranger reaches out and builds trust	A wrong-number text, a friend request or a dating match
2. The pitch	Talk turns to investing	A friend or partner offers to coach you
3. Greater returns	A fake platform shows fabricated gains	A balance that climbs, and a small withdrawal that works
4. Point of no return	A fee or tax is demanded to withdraw	The person stops answering

How do pig butchering scammers first contact you?

Pig butchering scammers usually contact you out of nowhere, by text, social media, ads or dating apps. The FBI’s 2025 IC3 report says they “typically initiate contact through text messages, social media sites, advertisements, or dating applications” and then quickly move the conversation to a messaging platform. FinCEN describes a classic opener: a message sent under the guise of “accidentally reaching a wrong number.”

If you met on a dating app or social site, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns about the next move: the scammer soon wants to leave the dating site and talk by email, phone or a messaging app. The FTC also says romance scammers find reasons not to meet in person, such as work overseas or a planned visit that keeps falling through.

What does the investment pitch sound like?

The investment pitch in a pig butchering scam rarely sounds like a sales pitch. It often arrives as friendly “coaching” on how to make money in stocks, forex or crypto. The FBI’s report adds that victims are often introduced to investment groups whose members present themselves as “knowledgeable industry insiders.”

At the start, they often don’t ask for money. They only offer to help.

How does the fake crypto platform work?

The fake crypto platform in a pig butchering scam is a website or app built to look real, with balances the scammer controls. FinCEN says victims are directed to “investment websites or applications designed to appear legitimate, but which are fraudulent.” The scammer will “show the victim extraordinary returns on the investment that have been fabricated.”

This is the step that fools careful people. FinCEN says the scammer “may even allow the victim to withdraw a small amount” to build more trust. The FBI says victims are shown fake profits and offered loans to encourage larger investments.

Why can’t you withdraw your money from the platform?

You can’t withdraw your money because the platform was never connected to a real market, and the withdrawal step is where the scam ends. FinCEN says that when a victim tries to withdraw, the scammer “may demand that the victim pay purported taxes or early withdrawal fees.” The FBI’s report calls these charges “a final attempt to exploit money from the victims before the scammers disappear.”

FinCEN says these scams are largely run by criminal organizations based in Southeast Asia that use victims of labor trafficking to send the messages. In October 2025, the US Treasury said a government estimate indicated Americans lost at least $10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scam operations in 2024. The same day, the Justice Department announced an indictment against the chairman of Cambodia’s Prince Group, Chen Zhi, over alleged forced-labor scam compounds, and filed a civil forfeiture complaint against about 127,271 bitcoin, which it called the largest forfeiture action in its history. An indictment is an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

What are the warning signs of a crypto romance scam?

The warning signs of a crypto romance scam follow the four stages. Seven to watch for:

1. A stranger starts the conversation, by wrong-number text, friend request or dating match.
2. They want to move the chat off the app where you met, away from report buttons and moderation.
3. They can’t meet in person, and video calls never happen. The FTC says: “Never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you haven’t met in person.”
4. They offer to coach you on investing, often by showing their own wins. The FTC says: “Never mix online dating and investment advice.”
5. They choose the platform or app, usually one you’ve never heard of.
6. The gains look smooth and big, and the pressure to add more keeps rising. The FTC says: “Only scammers will guarantee profits or big returns.”
7. You’re told to pay a tax, fee or deposit to withdraw. Stop there.

The stakes are highest for people who have built savings. The FBI’s report shows people aged 60 and over reported about $2.76 billion in crypto investment fraud losses in 2025, more than any other age group.

How do you check a platform before you send crypto?

You check a crypto platform before sending anything by verifying it independently, not through the person who recommended it. One free starting point is the search tool on the SEC’s Investor.gov, which lets you look up people and firms registered to sell investments.

• Look up the person or firm on Investor.gov. If they don’t appear, treat that as your answer.
• Search the platform’s name with words like “scam,” “fraud” or “complaint.”
• Don’t treat a small test withdrawal as proof. FinCEN says it is part of the script.
• Ask someone you know in real life to look at it before any money moves.

A real investment can wait a day while you check. A script needs you to act tonight.

What should you do if you’re in a pig butchering scam?

If you think you’re in a pig butchering scam, stop sending money first, even if you’re being pushed for one last deposit. The FBI’s public campaign on fraud is called “Take A Beat”: pause and assess before you act.

1. Stop all payments, including any “tax” or “fee” to release funds.
2. Save everything: names, phone numbers, the platform’s web address and the wallet addresses you sent crypto to.
3. Talk to someone you trust, as the FTC advises. A reverse image search of the person’s profile photo can show whether it appears under other names.
4. Call your bank and the exchange you sent the crypto from right away.
5. Report it to the FBI at ic3.gov and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

The FBI’s report warns that victims are also targeted by recovery scams that claim they can get lost funds back. Our guide to crypto recovery scams explains how to tell real help from round two, and our first-hour guide for stolen crypto covers what to do next.

Reports help. The FBI says its Operation Level Up, which uses IC3 complaints to find and warn people who are still being scammed, has passed 8,000 victims notified and $500 million in savings to those victims. That money was stopped before it was sent. Reporting does not guarantee that money already sent comes back.

What to watch next

These are reported losses, so they are not a perfect count. But two government sources using different methods both land in the billions each year. Real friendships do start online, and real friends talk about crypto. The line is the moment someone you have never met starts steering where your money goes. For other common setups, see our guide on how to spot XRP scams.

Sources

• FBI IC3: 2025 Internet Crime Report
• FinCEN Alert FIN-2023-Alert005 on “pig butchering” (Sep 8, 2023)
• FTC: What You Need to Know About Romance Scams
• Investor.gov (SEC): Search tool for investment professionals
• FTC: What To Know About Cryptocurrency and Scams
• US Treasury press release sb0278 (Oct 14, 2025)
• US Attorney’s Office EDNY: Chairman of Prince Group indicted (Oct 14, 2025)
• FBI: Nationwide “Take A Beat” campaign on frauds and scams