Pig Butchering Scam: What is it and How Do You Protect Yourself?

What is a Pig Butchering Scam and How Do You Protect Yourself?

Editor’s note: In recognition of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October, we are publishing a series of blog posts dedicated to educating and informing you about cybersecurity practices. This is the first in a series of posts. Below, you can find a list of links to the rest of the series:

6 Conditional Access Policies You Should Turn on Now
Tips for Running an Effective Cybersecurity Awareness Campaign
What is Quishing and How Do You Protect Yourself? (Posting Oct. 8)
Early Warning Signs Your Employees Need to Look Out for and Report to IT (Posting Oct. 9)
My Dad Lost Thousands of Dollars in a Romance Scam. Here’s How They Work and How to Protect Yourself. (Posting Oct. 14)
7 Reasons Your Organization Needs Cybersecurity Insurance (Posting Oct. 16)
Why Does My Organization Need Cybersecurity Insurance and an MSP? (Posting Oct. 21)
Why Keeping a File with Passwords on Your Computer is a Terrible Idea (Posting Oct. 23)
How Do Passwords Get Hacked? (Posting Oct. 28)
Why Does Social Engineering Happen? (Posting Oct. 30)

You’ve probably received an innocent-looking text message that appears to be nothing more than someone accidentally sending you a message meant for someone else.

Sometimes it is as simple as a wrong number, but oftentimes, it’s the first step in an elaborate scam. Many people simply ignore these messages, but many others write back, get sucked into a conversation and, eventually, lose a lot of money in the process.

It’s called a pig butchering scam, which is a reference to the practice of fattening a hog before slaughter. Originating in China, it went global during the pandemic, and now, criminal syndicates often force human trafficking victims to perform the schemes against their will.

How Does a Pig Butchering Scam Work?

As noted, the scam begins with what appears to be an innocent message, sent either through text, a messaging service like WhatsApp or WeChat, dating sites or social networking sites. The scammer is trying to contact a friend or family member only to have sent the message to you instead.

Quickly glossing over the mistake, the scammer will attempt to build a relationship with you, often talking about their desire to find new friends or a romantic partner, talking about activities they like to do or life experiences that are similar to yours.

The scammers develop fake profiles on social networking sites to corroborate their story. They often showcase their “glamorous” lifestyle with nice cars, vacations in exotic locations and other worldly possessions, all in an attempt to make you believe they are living “the good life.”

Any personal information you give through your conversation with them is a weapon they can use to manipulate you later. Additionally, they’ll do research on you through your social media sites to pretend to have a shared interest.

Eventually, the conversation turns toward investing. They’ll make claims about their success, showing screenshots of brokerage accounts with astronomical numbers.

Scammers will then present this same investment opportunity to you, promising you’ll have the same success and turn your finances around pretty much overnight.

The hook with this scam is you aren’t wiring money directly to the scammer — or at least it doesn’t appear that way — but rather, they are helping you set up and manage your own account.

It sounds safe because it’s your account that you control. However, it’s all a ploy, as scammers either create fake trading platform apps that are intended to steal your money, or they use legitimate apps and manipulate the results, making you think you’re profiting when you’re not.

“Pig butchering scams are just another type of phishing scam. But instead of tricking you into giving access to your account through a legitimate-looking email or accessing your network with a harmless-looking shipping message, it’s an elaborate scheme that takes advantage of desperate or lonely people.”

Part of the investing process involves scammers “helping” victims by explaining how to wire money from their bank to a crypto wallet and eventually the fake brokerage. Usually, the initial investment is small to gain the trust of the victim.

Some scammers will even allow their targets to withdraw a little bit of money to prove that it’s legitimate. Once that trust is established, victims will invest larger and larger sums of money.

The initial investment will fail, and the scammer will again try to “help” the victim by guiding them toward another risk-free investment that will help them recoup their losses.

The cycle keeps repeating itself until the victim figures out the ploy or the scammer has determined they can’t get any more money out of their victim.

Pig Butchering Scam Warning Signs

To avoid becoming a victim of a pig butchering scam, look out for these red flags:

Unexpected contact: Don’t respond to unsolicited messages from unknown contacts, even about seemingly innocent topics.
Refusal to participate in video chats: If someone you’ve been messaging with consistently declines to join a video call with you, they likely aren’t the person from the profile photo.
Request for financial information: Never share personal financial information with individuals you’ve never met in person.
Invitation to invest in specific financial products: Be wary of any unsolicited investment advice or tips, particularly from someone you’ve only spoken to online — even if they suggest you trade through your own account.
Unknown or confusing investment opportunity: Carefully research the product, as well as the person and/or company requesting your investment. Along with a basic search, try adding words like “scam” or “fraud” to see what results come up.
Unfamiliar trading platforms: Do extensive research before moving any money, particularly in an emerging market like cryptocurrency, which has hundreds of exchanges and new avenues for trading continuing to evolve. Who controls the platform? What security measures are in place? How can you withdraw funds if needed? If you don’t know the answers to those questions, don’t put your money there.
Exaggerated claims and elevated emotions: Take a closer look at any investment that offers much higher-than-average returns or is touted as “guaranteed.” Scammers also will use their knowledge about you to appeal to your emotions — something like, “Don’t you want to have money to send your kids to college?”
Sense of urgency about an upcoming news announcement or share price increase: Remember that insider trading is illegal, and you should never trade in company shares based on material, nonpublic information.

Pig butchering scams are just another type of phishing scam. But instead of tricking you into giving access to your account through a legitimate-looking email or accessing your network with a harmless-looking shipping message, it’s an elaborate scheme that takes advantage of desperate or lonely people.

Remember to be skeptical of unexpected messages and never give out personal or financial information to someone you’ve never met in person.

If an opportunity is too good to be true, it probably is.