You think you have met someone special online; you exchange messages and photos, you build a deep connection, and then this new love financially slaughters you! He/she has fattened you with a special bond and new friendship before butchering you financially by stealing your money.
You have just fallen victim to the pig butchering scam.
Below is the story of one Australian woman who was scammed of AU$32,000. I have summarized her story from an article on ABC News Australia.
Sydney single mum Vida* thought she’d met a genuine and kind man on the dating platform Tinder. She matched with someone named Graeme, and soon, they were exchanging hundreds of messages. However, two weeks later, she found herself scammed out of $32,000, which she had borrowed from family and friends. She now believes Graeme was a persona created by a criminal syndicate, with messages crafted to manipulate her.
The scam Vida fell victim to ‘pig butchering.’
What is a Pig Butchering Scam?
Pig butchering is a term that refers to the process of ‘fattening up’ a victim before exploiting them. Also known as romance baiting or Sha Zhu Pan, these scams involve scammers befriending victims to earn their trust. They then encourage the victims to invest in fraudulent online trading platforms, including cryptocurrencies, before stealing their money.
What Is The Pig Butchering Scam method?
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) warns that pig butchering scams generally follow four steps:
- Packaging: Creating the fake persona.
- Raising: Building trust with the victim.
- Killing: Luring the victim into an investment scam.
- Cash out: Stealing the victim’s money.
How Does The Scammer Fool You? Compassion, Excitement & Hope
The scammer will create a persona that seems so appealing because they seem normal yet they come from a good family and are a great catch; they fool you into self-explaining why such a good catch is available – they have experienced a romantic disappointment and a traumatic loss from a relationship: now you have compassion for them, you trust them, you want to help, and you feel excited & hopeful for the future. This is the hook!
“Thank you for saying that. I tried to be willing to let him go before, but I would be very sad when I thought about his domestic violence that led to the death of my unborn child.”
One pig butcher scammer told me that she was divorced after suffering from domestic violence from her husband who had beaten her and she lost her unborn daughter.
As you read the story below of Vida from Sydney, Australia (name changed), remember the scammer will first contact you from a social media website or app – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or even LinkedIn; next the scammer will convince you to communicate with them on WhatsApp…
The Hook: A Heartbroken Man Looking for Love
Vida’s nightmare began when she matched on Tinder with a profile of a man claiming to be Graeme, a 35-year-old from a town about 50 kms from Sydney where she lives. Graeme shared that he had been single for three years following his girlfriend’s death from breast cancer. This story and his respectful demeanor drew Vida to him.
“One of the things that drew me to him was how dedicated he was to his work and business, despite having gone through a hard time,” Vida said. “He also didn’t talk sexually, which can be off-putting with most guys online. I felt like I could open up to him, and he even said he was looking for an emotional connection.”
Within a few days, their conversation moved from Tinder to WhatsApp, leading to hundreds of exchanged messages. They shared personal details, photos, and life aspirations, building a deep connection. This is the fattening up.
Cryptocurrency Enters the Conversation
Unlike typical pig butchering scams, Vida initiated the conversation about cryptocurrency, a mistake she truly regrets.
“I told him I had some crypto that I lost money on, and he immediately said he did bitcoin day trading and had made $3,000 the night before,” Vida recounted. “He offered to show me how to make money while staying at home with my baby.”
Graeme directed her to set up an account with the legitimate Australian cryptocurrency exchange CoinSpot and then introduced her to a platform called MEXC Global. Unbeknownst to Vida, the website he referred her to was a fake version of the legitimate MEXC Global site.
Killing the Pig
Vida initially invested $300, with Graeme ‘lending’ her $200 to set up the account. As she struggled to increase her investment, Graeme ‘lent’ her $50,000. The scam unraveled when Vida’s MEXC Global account was repeatedly frozen, and she was asked to pay fees to unfreeze it, totaling $32,000.
“I was told the funds were ‘being held by the regulatory authority’ on suspicion of money laundering,” Vida explained.
“I realized something was off when the ‘customer service’ department asked for $10,000 USDT to review my account.”
“I realized something was off when the ‘customer service’ department asked for $10,000 USDT to review my account.”
Vida eventually pieced together that Graeme was a scammer when she noticed a suspicious correlation between his messages and responses from ‘customer service.’ She blocked his number and reported the scam.
Recovery and Reporting
Recovering money from pig butchering scams is challenging. Cybertrace CEO Dan Halpin told ABC News that these scams involve sophisticated operations with criminals using fake identities and operating across international borders, particularly in regions with limited law enforcement like Cambodia and Myanmar.
I have traveled to Cambodia and heard firsthand about the criminal syndicates of scammers. They also told me that they run this scam with multiple people simultaneously and they will use one woman (or one man) who will make the video call with you the victim so that you believe you are communicating with a real person. In Cambodia, they had scammed various men in Brazil by using the same Cambodian woman om video calls.
Vida reported the scam to various organizations, including CoinSpot, Tinder, CommBank, NAB, ScamWatch, and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). Investigations with NAB and CommBank are ongoing.
“Pig Butchering” is a social engineering threat where the attacker reaches out over social media or SMS and starts up a friendly conversation. The conversations can go on for weeks or even months! Once they have rapport and trust established, they will tell you about an exciting crypto investment “opportunity” that could lead to you losing millions of dollars.
https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/broken-dreams-and-piggy-banks-pig-butchering-crypto-fraud-growing-online
4 Common Signs of Pig Butchering Scams
Cybercrime Command acting assistant commissioner Chris Goldsmid outlined to ABC news these 4 typical behaviors of pig butchering scammers:
- Cold texting individuals on messaging apps, often framing the accidental messages as ‘fate’
- Flaunting a lavish lifestyle and discussing their wealth
- Regularly talking about investments or trading websites after a few weeks of conversation
- Sharing photos and using pet names for each other
Yes, I have had various women approach me starting on LinkedIn and Facebook, and then requesting to continue communicating on WhatsApp. I played along with the ruse to understand the process and the methods that they us to try to manipulate and structure exchanges to build trust. I was also curious about how long it would take before they would introduce crypto or some related investment scam. The only challenge with such a game is that they will send you message after message, and they are highly skilled at constantly responding with more and more questions to keep you engaged.
Read about another shocking story of pig butchering: “The former CEO of a small Kansas bank was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for looting the bank of $47 million as a victim of a pig butchering scam.”
Have you been fooled, manipulated or betrayed?
If you have been fooled, manipulated or betrayed, Get help now with me! If you cannot afford my full fee, write to me and we will do our best to help you with a reduced fee.
Anointed “The Woman Expert” by WGN Chicago, Patrick Wanis PhD is a renowned Celebrity Life Coach, Human Behavior & Relationship Expert who developed SRTT therapy (Subconscious Rapid Transformation Technique) and is teaching it to other practitioners. Wanis’ clientele ranges from celebrities and CEOs to housewives and teenagers. CNN, BBC, FOX News, MSNBC & major news outlets worldwide consult Wanis for his expert insights and analysis on sexuality, human behavior and women’s issues. Wanis is the first person ever to do hypnotherapy on national TV – on the Montel Williams show.