Several criminal groups, predominantly originating from China, have set up focused on online gambling and fraud operations in , according to the . These centers are prolific for carrying out a form of fraud called 鈥溾, which is a hybrid of a romantic and crypto scam, where the perpetrator plays on emotional vulnerabilities of the victim and uses a personalised form of attack through platforms such as dating apps or WhatsApp, over a prolonged period of time.
One tactic involved in 鈥減ig butchering鈥 includes the fraudster pretending to accidentally message the wrong number to initiate contact, before gradually building up the victim鈥檚 trust as if a friend. The victim is encouraged to transfer money, in this way 鈥渇attening the pig鈥, until all of their money has been drained and the victim is metaphorically 鈥渟laughtered鈥. In this role, the perpetrator usually pretends to be someone both wealthy and competent in crypto, telling the victim to transfer their money into the share market, cryptocurrency or foreign currency exchanges through a fake site.
Perpetrators of pig butchering are often victims too, with having brought to light how by organized gangs, including in the border regions of Myanmar. According to , $75 billion was lost to pig butchering in the last four years alone. Preying on lonely or vulnerable people and using different forms of technology, pig butchering has become the preferred scam over Ponzi schemes, according to by Chain Analysis.
The Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) has found that scams are becoming increasingly common. A carried out by the organization of 58,329 people in 2024 found that almost half of the world experienced a scam once a week. In China, respondents were particularly likely to say that they would recognise a scam, at 84 percent agreeing with the statement. Phone calls and text/SMS messages remained the primary methods through which scammers operated in 2024, with a notable rise in WhatsApp scams across several regions.
The financial cost of scams is enormous, at an estimated $1.03 trillion worldwide in 2024 alone. While the average estimated loss per victim was highest in richer countries such as the United States ($3,520 per victim) and Denmark ($3,067), economically developing nations face a heavier impact. According to GASA, Pakistan lost 4.2 percent of its GDP to scams while Kenya and South Africa lost 3.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. By comparison, in France and Germany, losses per country hovered around 0.2 percent of GDP.
