Messages that Shreya Datta, a tech professional who was a victim of an online scam known as “pig butchering,” exchanged with a person who would later turn out to be a scammer are displayed on her phone in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 9, 2024. The “wine trader” wooed her online for months with his flirtatious smile and emoji-sprinkled texts. Then he went for the kill, defrauding the Philadelphia-based tech professional out of $450,000 in a cryptocurrency romance scam. The con, which drained Datta, 37, of her savings and retirement funds while saddling her with debt, involved the use of deepfakes and a script so sophisticated that she felt her “brain was hacked.” (Photo by Bastien INZAURRALDE / AFP) (Photo by BASTIEN INZAURRALDE/AFP via Getty Images)
More and more Americans are losing thousands of dollars to a scheme that takes fraudsters weeks or months to pull off.
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"Pig butchering" scams earned the name from the idea that scammers use flattery and fake bonding to "fatten up" their victims. The strategy has amassed billions in stolen funds — particularly in the form of cryptocurrencies.
Losses from investment scams soared 38% to a new record high in 2023, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Report. Of the $4.57 billion in funds reported stolen, $3.96 billion involved fraudulent crypto investments.
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"I met my scammer through a dating app called Bumble, where he spent about six weeks courting me," Carina, a victim of pig butchering who asked to only be identified by her first name, said.
She met her scammer on the dating app Bumble, and she previously disclosed that her scammer claimed to live a lavish lifestyle and invest heavily in cryptocurrencies. After months of exchanging messages, the scammer convinced her to deposit a total of $152,000 on a website designed to mimic the legitimate crypto exchange Kraken.
Carina eventually traced her funds to an exchange in Thailand. She handed the details over to law enforcement but hasn't recovered her stolen funds.
Money Report
Pig butchering scams are often conducted using forced labor in Southeast Asia, according to a report from the United Nations. And despite blockchain firms like Chainalysis tracking down millions in stolen crypto, the multi-jurisdictional footprints of these cases creates a hurdle for law enforcement to seize the stolen funds.
Watch the video above to learn more about how crypto scammers are convincing Americans to give up their life savings, and how law enforcement is trying to fight back.
