Pig Butchering Scams: How the Con Works

Introduction

Many crypto scams ask for money quickly. This one takes its time. It often begins with a message that seems to have reached the wrong person and grows into a friendship over time. Only then does it turn to money, through a trading website or app that the new friend recommends. The website shows the deposits growing, and the trouble starts when you try to take the money out.

This page follows the con in that order: the contact, the rapport, the small win, the platform, the withdrawal fee, the tax and, at the end, an offer to get the money back. Each stage comes with a tell, a sign you can check on your own without trusting the person on the other side of the chat. The sections after the stages explain why the platform shows profits, where the money really goes and who is typing the messages.

The second half of the page is practical. One section sets out how to get out while the con is still running. Another covers what to say to a family member who is in one, which is often harder than spotting the scam yourself. The last section explains where to report it in the UK and the US.

Every sentence that reports what a regulator, police body, government or research firm says names that source and its date. Every sentence about a national regulator or police body also names the country it speaks for. Most of the official material comes from the US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the FBI, which have published detailed descriptions of this scam. UK and international sources are used wherever they add something the US sources do not, and every source was read on 5 October 2026.

This page is one of a set. Our crypto scam protection guide covers the checks that apply to every kind of scam. It also carries the total that Chainalysis measured for all crypto scams in 2025, so see that guide for the figure, which is not repeated here. If the platform you used was a real business that later failed, rather than a fake one, our guide to crypto platform failure and recovery covers that different problem.

If you think you are in one right now, go straight to how to get out mid-con. If you are worried about someone else, start with what to say to a family member. Nothing on this page promises that money already sent can be recovered, and nobody who contacts you with that promise should be paid.

What Pig Butchering Is, and What It Is Called Now

The name describes the method rather than the money. The official bodies quoted below use different names for the same scam, which matters if you search for help or read a warning from your bank.

Where the name comes from

In the US, the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) explained in an alert dated 8 September 2023 that the name pig butchering compares the scam to fattening a hog before slaughter: the scammers use fake identities, the promise of a relationship and elaborate stories to build trust before they take the victim's money.

Interpol, the international police organisation, said on 17 December 2024 that the term comes from fraudsters calling their victims pigs, whom they gradually fatten up with a fake romance or friendship before persuading them to invest, often in fake cryptocurrency schemes.

The image sums up the method. The investment comes last, once the attention has made the request feel like a favour between friends rather than a sales pitch.

The names in official use

Interpol called on 17 December 2024 for pig butchering to be replaced by the term romance baiting, arguing that the old label shames victims and deters them from coming forward to seek help.

In the US, FinCEN said in its alert of 3 September 2026 that it now uses the term digital asset investment scam for the fraud also known as pig butchering, cryptocurrency confidence scams or relationship investment scams. FinCEN's alert of 3 September 2026 notes that in the US the FBI calls this kind of scam cryptocurrency investment fraud, which is the category behind the FBI figures on this page.

In the US, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on 30 July 2024 that the fraud goes by many names, including crypto confidence investment fraud, financial grooming fraud and relationship confidence fraud, and that pig butchering is the term the operators use.

This page keeps the name people search for, and otherwise calls it the scam or the con. It calls the people targeted victims and nothing else, which was the point of Interpol's request.

How common it is

Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, named high-yield investment programmes (HYIPs) and pig butchering as the dominant crypto scam categories by volume in 2025, in the scams chapter of its 2026 Crypto Crime Report, published on 13 January 2026, while noting that scam types increasingly overlap.

That ranking appears here without a dollar figure on purpose. The total that Chainalysis measured across every type of crypto scam lives, with its caveats, on the protection guide linked in the introduction, so that each figure on this site has one home and one date.

In the US, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) said in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that cryptocurrency investment fraud was the largest source of reported losses to Americans in 2025, at $7.2 billion from 61,559 complaints, with complaints up 48% and losses up 25% on 2024.

In the US, FinCEN said on 3 September 2026, citing the IC3, that reported US losses from these scams rose from $907 million in 2021 to $7.2 billion in 2025.

In the US, the IC3 describes the statistics in that report as an assessment taken at a point in time, which may change (2025 annual report, published 6 April 2026). Read the $7.2 billion as reported losses, not a count of everything lost. The US IC3 figure counts only the losses that complainants chose to report to the IC3, and it covers crypto investment fraud as the FBI files it, not a narrower definition of pig butchering.

The Con, Stage by Stage

In the US, the FBI's IC3 summarised the pattern in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026: victims are shown fake profits on fake investment platforms or apps, charged taxes and fees when they try to withdraw, and then targeted by recovery scams.

The seven stages below follow that pattern in more detail. Not every con runs through all seven, and some change the order, but the tells stay the same. Each tell is something you can check for yourself, without asking the person who may be running the scam.

1. The contact

In the US, FinCEN said in its alert of 8 September 2023 that the first contact usually arrives as a text message, a direct message on social media or a similar channel, disguised as a wrong number or as an attempt to reconnect with an old friend.

In the US, the IC3 said in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that these scammers typically make contact through text messages, social media, adverts or dating apps, and then quickly move the conversation to a messaging platform. In the US, FinCEN said on 3 September 2026 that scammers commonly open with a social media or text message, sometimes pretending to have mistyped a phone number.

The tell: a stranger who keeps the conversation going after a wrong number, or an old friend you cannot quite place, who soon suggests moving to another app. You do not have to answer a message that was not meant for you, and a stranger who will not let the conversation end is the first sign.

2. The rapport

In the US, FinCEN said in September 2023 that the scammer may claim to be an investor or money manager, with a social media profile that shows off wealth and an enviable lifestyle, and keeps talking to the victim over time to build trust and a relationship.

In the US, the IC3 said in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that victims are often introduced to investment groups whose members present themselves as knowledgeable industry insiders offering guidance on trading or investing in cryptocurrency or gold.

In the US, the IC3 describes cryptocurrency investment scams as sophisticated and long-term (2025 annual report, published 6 April 2026). The messages are warm and attentive, sometimes romantic, and money is not mentioned at first. When it does appear, it arrives as a story about the other person's success rather than as a request.

Chainalysis reported on 13 January 2026 that some scammers buy AI tools on-chain from vendors selling face-swap software and deepfake technology, and that scams with those links tend to scale more quickly and take in more money than scams without them. A friendly face on a video call is not proof of who you are talking to, and neither is a voice message.

The tell: a new friend whose life seems built around trading success they did not need to mention, and an invitation to a group where everyone appears to be making money and nobody ever seems to lose.

3. The small win

In the US, FinCEN said in September 2023 that the scammer shows the victim extraordinary returns that have been fabricated, and may even allow a small withdrawal to build the victim's confidence before urging them to invest more.

In the US, the CFTC warned on 30 July 2024 that at first you might be able to withdraw a small amount of money, but that problems suddenly appear when you try to take out large sums or close the account.

The first deposit can be small, and it can go onto the same website or app that will later hold much larger sums. The quick profit and the withdrawal that works are part of the script. They cost the scammer little, and they turn a doubt into a reason to trust.

The tell: a profit that arrives faster than any real investment you have made, followed by encouragement to deposit more while the chance lasts. A small withdrawal that works proves only that the scammer can afford to return a small amount.

4. The platform

In the US, FinCEN said in September 2023 that victims are steered to investment websites or apps designed to look legitimate but controlled or manipulated by the scammer, sometimes genuine apps with third-party plug-ins that let the scammer falsify what the victim sees.

In the US, the IC3 said in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that victims are shown fake profits and offered loans to encourage larger investments. In the US, FinCEN said in September 2023 that scammers sometimes set a deadline after which the opportunity will be lost, and may encourage the victim to bring friends and family into the scheme.

In the US, FinCEN said in September 2023 that a scammer may ask for remote access to the victim's devices to open crypto accounts on the victim's behalf, or ask for screenshots so they can walk the victim through buying crypto.

In the US, FinCEN's warning signs for the website or app itself, published in September 2023, include a domain name misspelled to look like another business, a recently registered domain, no physical street address, international contact details and contact only by chat or email. In the US, FinCEN also listed an app downloaded directly from a third-party website, rather than from a well-known app store, as a warning sign (alert of 8 September 2023).

The tells for this stage come as a set, and any one of them is enough to stop and check:

• You did not find it yourself. The link, the app or the website's name came from the person in the chat, not from a search you started.
• The balance only goes up. Real markets fall as well as rise, and a dashboard that never shows a bad day is showing you a script.
• Someone else wants to drive. A request for remote access to your phone or computer, or for screenshots of your screen, means someone wants to see or move what you hold. Never share a recovery phrase or a private key with anyone.
• The offer comes with a deadline, a bonus or a loan. Each one is a reason to deposit more before you have checked anything.

5. The withdrawal fee

In the US, FinCEN said in September 2023 that if a victim tries to withdraw, the scammer may demand early withdrawal fees, and that when the victim's investments slow or stop, the scammer may claim losses on the investment and encourage the victim to make up the difference with further deposits.

This is the moment the balance on the screen is put to the test. A platform that really held your money could take any charge out of the balance it shows you. A demand for new money, sent separately before anything can come out, is the clearest sign that there is nothing behind the balance to take a fee from.

The tell: any payment you must make before you can take money out, whatever it is called: a fee, a deposit to verify the account, a charge to unfreeze it or a penalty for withdrawing early. Stop at the first request.

6. The tax

In the US, FinCEN listed transfers that a customer describes as paying taxes, fees or penalties to a crypto platform as a red flag for this scam, in its alert of 8 September 2023.

In the US, the IC3 said in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that victims who try to withdraw are charged taxes and fees as a final attempt to extract money before the scammers disappear with all of the victim's funds. In the US, FinCEN said in September 2023 that once the victim cannot or will not pay more, the scammer abruptly cuts off contact and takes the victim's entire investment.

The tax demand is presented as the last step before the payout. The two descriptions above show what follows instead: another charge, or silence.

The tell: a demand to pay tax to the platform, with new money, before it will release your balance. Treat that demand as the scam itself, whatever document or official-sounding name comes with it.

7. The recovery pitch

In the US, FinCEN warned on 3 September 2026 that scammers may target the same victim again with recovery scams, in which a scammer posing as a government agency, law firm or business promises to help the victim get back money lost to the earlier scam.

In the US, the CFTC warned on 30 July 2024 that fraud-recovery scams are a form of advance-fee fraud, and that the same gang, or a different one, often carries out both the original scam and the recovery pitch.

The signs of a recovery scam, and what to do if one has already contacted you, are set out in our guide to what to do after a crypto scam.

The tell: anyone who contacts you offering to get the money back for a fee, however official they sound and however much they already know about your losses. Knowing the amounts and the dates proves nothing, because the people who took the money know both.

Why the Platform Shows Profits

The platform is the part of the con that looks most like a real business. It is worth understanding why the numbers on it are not evidence of anything.

A web page is not an exchange

In the US, FinCEN said in September 2023 that once a victim buys crypto and invests it through the scam website or app, the funds are funnelled to crypto addresses and accounts controlled by the scammers and their co-conspirators.

In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warns that crypto scam adverts often link to professional-looking websites where fraudsters may manipulate software to fake prices and investment returns, and that you may not realise you have invested in a scam until you try to sell (guidance last updated 16 February 2026). In the UK, the FCA adds that once you have invested, scammers may act quickly, closing your account and taking your money, or may continue the pretence to encourage others to invest (guidance last updated 16 February 2026).

Put those statements together and the dashboard makes sense. Your deposit left for the scammers' wallets when you sent it. What remains on the screen is a number in a database that the same people control, and they can make it grow at whatever rate keeps you depositing. On a genuine trading platform, a balance is a record of assets held for you; on a fake one, the balance is the whole product.

Copies of real exchanges

In the US, FinCEN described in its September 2023 alert a case announced in November 2022, in which seven seized web addresses had spoofed the name of an exchange in Singapore as part of a pig butchering scheme, and five victims in the US lost more than $10 million. In the US, FinCEN's September 2023 alert says the victims' deposits in that 2022 case were moved immediately through numerous private wallets and swapping services to hide where they came from.

In the US, FinCEN said on 3 September 2026 that the Justice Department had announced on 23 April 2026 a set of actions against South-East Asian scam centres that included seizing 503 fake investment websites.

A copied design, a familiar logo or a polished app proves nothing about who receives your deposit. Look-alike sites are cheap to build and cheap to replace, so the only check that counts is one you run from outside the chat.

Checking the platform from outside the chat

In the UK, the FCA tells you to search its Financial Services Register for a crypto firm by name or firm reference number, check which activities and services the firm has permission for, and make sure its contact details match the ones you have been given (guidance last updated 16 February 2026).

Our guide to verifying a crypto platform walks through the registers for the UK, the EU and the US, with the domain and app checks that go with them.

Run every check yourself, from an address you typed, and never through a link, an app or a phone number that came from the person recommending the platform. If you cannot verify the platform, treat that as the answer and do not deposit.

Where the Money Goes, and Why It Rarely Comes Back

The route your money takes explains two things that confuse many victims: how the platform could show a balance after the money had gone, and why getting it back is so rare.

Three stages of laundering

In the US, FinCEN described in its alert of 3 September 2026 how scam proceeds move in three stages: victims pay, often in digital assets; the assets are laundered on-chain to hide where they came from; and launderers convert them into ordinary money and feed it back into the traditional financial system.

Each stage puts distance between your payment and the people who end up with it. In the 2022 case described in the US Treasury's FinCEN alert of September 2023, that distance began to open the moment the deposits arrived.

Across blockchains and into stablecoins

In the US, FinCEN said in September 2026 that professional money launderers often use decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols to move scam proceeds across blockchains, for example swapping USDT tokens from Ethereum to Tron, and swap them into stablecoins because stablecoins are easy to use on the Telegram-based guarantee marketplaces that serve scam centres, partly thanks to their worldwide acceptance and perceived stability.

Chainalysis reported on 13 January 2026 that Chinese-language money laundering networks handled less than 1% of pig butchering laundering flows in the first quarter of 2022, and that in 2025 these networks consistently laundered more than 10% of scam funds. Chainalysis added that the growth in these networks' pig butchering activity coincided with a steady decline in the use of centralised exchanges to launder or cash out funds, potentially because exchanges can freeze funds (13 January 2026).

That last point deserves a second reading. The route that gives a victim the best chance of a freeze, money sitting at an exchange that can stop it, is the route pig butchering launderers have been moving away from.

Why reversal is rare

In the US, FinCEN noted on 3 September 2026 that bank accounts receiving scam proceeds are located in a wide range of foreign jurisdictions, and that because the money is typically laundered through multiple transactions, the country of the first transfer does not necessarily show where it ends up.

In the US, the CFTC warned on 30 July 2024 that recovering money lost to fraud is rare, and more difficult if dollars are first converted into crypto assets.

None of this makes a report pointless. A report adds your case to a pattern that investigators can act on. What can realistically follow one is covered in the after-a-scam guide linked in the reporting section below. It does mean that the decision that protects you most is the one you make before the next payment, not after it.

Who Is on the Other Side of the Chat

Organised crime, not a lone fraudster

In the US, the IC3 said in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that crypto investment scams are largely run by organised criminal enterprises based in South-East Asia that use victims of human trafficking as forced labour to run the scam operations.

In the US, FinCEN had said in September 2023 that these scams are largely carried out by criminal organisations based in South-East Asia that use victims of labour trafficking to reach millions of people around the world.

That changes how to think about the person writing to you. The messages usually come from an organised operation rather than from one person acting alone. That helps explain why the same stages recur in cases that have nothing else in common.

The scam compounds

A report published by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in August 2023 said credible sources indicated that at least 120,000 people across Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams, with credible estimates of at least 100,000 in Cambodia, and noted that the true number is difficult to estimate. In the US, FinCEN said on 3 September 2026 that industrial-scale scam centres operate primarily in Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos, that criminal gangs have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people to them, and that victims may have their passports taken to stop them leaving. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on 21 July 2026 that people from at least 80 countries and territories had been identified in scam compounds in South-East Asia.

What this means for the chat in front of you

In the US, FinCEN noted in September 2023 that, according to media reports and law enforcement sources, a significant number of the scammers who contact victims are likely to be victims of trafficking themselves, working against their will.

None of that is a reason to keep talking. Do not try to rescue, argue with or expose the person in the chat; you cannot know who else is reading it, and every reply keeps the con alive. Keep a copy of the messages for your report, then block the account and report it to the app or social network you were contacted on.

It may also help with the shame many victims feel. The con was most likely built by an industrial operation that reaches out to millions of people, and being reached by it says more about the operation than about you.

How to Get Out Mid-Con

Getting out does not need the scammer's agreement, and it does not need you to be certain. If any one of the signals below applies, stop paying and check the platform from outside the chat, even if part of you still hopes it is real.

Signals that mean stop now

• A fee, a tax or a penalty stands between you and your money. That is stages five and six above, and it does not end with one payment.
• Someone wants to see or use your screen. A request for remote access to your devices, or for screenshots of your screen, is one of the scam tactics the US Treasury's FinCEN described in September 2023.
• You are coached on what to tell your bank. Anyone who tells you what to say if the bank asks about a payment, or to keep the investment from your family, is protecting the scam rather than you.
• The deadline keeps moving, and so does the amount. A genuine investment does not need a new payment every time you try to leave.
• A loan or a bonus appears just when you hesitate. Both are ways of getting a further deposit before you check anything.

Steps to take, in order

• 1. Stop sending money. Make no further deposit, fee, tax or loan repayment, whatever reason you are given and however close the payout seems.
• 2. Stop replying, and do not announce it. You do not owe the scammer an explanation, and telling them you know invites a new story, a new character or a threat.
• 3. Check the platform from outside the chat. Run the register check described above from an address you typed, or follow our crypto platform verification guide.
• 4. Save the evidence. Keep screenshots of the chat with dates, the platform's web address and app name, the wallet addresses you sent to, the transaction IDs and your bank and exchange records.
• 5. Tell your bank and the exchange you bought from. If money left your bank account or card, call your bank; if you bought crypto on a genuine exchange and sent it on, report what happened through that exchange's own app or website.
• 6. Close the doors you opened. If you gave anyone remote access, remove the remote-access app and, from another device if you can, change the passwords on your email, bank and exchange accounts and turn on two-factor authentication.
• 7. Report it. Use the reporting routes in the section below and keep any reference number you are given.

Work through the steps in that order. The first one protects you at once. The rest protect the value of your report and leave you ready for the next approach, which is likely to come.

If a payment is still on its way

If you have just sent a bank transfer or a card payment to buy crypto for the platform, call your bank straight away and tell them it may be a scam. If the crypto is still in an exchange account in your own name, leave it there and do not send it on. Once it has gone to an address the platform gave you, the steps above apply: stop paying, save the evidence and report it.

What happens when you stop paying

Expect pressure. The person you trusted may become angry, hurt or desperate, and new characters may join the chat. The balance on the platform may suddenly jump or freeze, with a new fee to release it. All of this is the con continuing. The contact may also simply stop, as the US Treasury's FinCEN described in its September 2023 account of the final stage.

Later, sometimes much later, expect the recovery pitch from stage seven. It may come from someone who claims to be a lawyer, an investigator or an official, and it may know exactly what you lost. Treat an unsolicited offer to get your money back for an upfront fee as a second scam aimed at the same victim. The answer is the same as before: do not pay.

What to Say to a Family Member Who Is in One

Helping someone else out of this con is harder than leaving it yourself. The person you are worried about may have a long-running conversation behind them, a relationship they value and a balance they believe in. You are asking them to give up all three at once.

Why it is worth speaking up early

In the US, the IC3 reported in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that the FBI's Operation Level Up notified 3,780 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud in 2025, and that 78% of them did not know they were being scammed.

In the US, people aged 60 and over reported $2.76 billion of the crypto investment fraud losses recorded by the IC3 in 2025, across 13,685 complaints, more than any other age group, according to its annual report published on 6 April 2026. In the US, the age rows in that IC3 table add up to 48,123 of the 61,559 complaints, so the $2.76 billion for people aged 60 and over is a minimum rather than a total (2025 annual report, p. 53).

Two things follow. In the US, most of the victims the FBI contacted mid-con in 2025 did not know they were being scammed, so expect disbelief rather than relief (2025 annual report, published 6 April 2026). Older relatives are not the only people targeted, but in the reported US figures they lost the most. A conversation with an older parent is worth having before anything seems wrong.

Signs you may notice

In the US, FinCEN's alert of 8 September 2023 lists warning signs for banks, and several of them are just as visible to a family member:

• Sudden large crypto purchases. In the US, FinCEN's alert of 8 September 2023 lists someone with no history of using crypto suddenly moving large sums into it as a red flag.
• Savings cashed in early. In the US, FinCEN's September 2023 alert lists as a red flag someone who, out of character, cashes in savings before they mature and then sends the money towards crypto.
• Borrowing against the home. In the US, FinCEN's September 2023 alert lists as a red flag a home equity loan or second mortgage used to buy crypto.
• Distress about a deadline. In the US, FinCEN's September 2023 alert lists as a red flag visible distress or anxiety about meeting the timeline of a crypto investment opportunity.

Add the signs from the stages above: a new online friend who talks about trading, a website or app you have never heard of, and talk of fees or tax before a withdrawal. Any one of them is worth a gentle question.

What to say

Aim for questions, not verdicts. A verdict invites a defence, while a question invites the person to look at the evidence alongside you.

• "Whatever has happened, I am on your side." Say it first, and mean it, because shame stops people asking for help.
• "How did you first meet them?" Let them tell the story from the first message; hearing a wrong-number opening described aloud can be the moment it clicks.
• "Can you show me how you would take the whole balance out?" Ask to see the steps for withdrawing everything, without paying anything first. If a fee or a tax appears, you have both seen the tell.
• "Can we look the platform up together?" Check the register from an address you type yourselves, using the steps in the section on checking the platform from outside the chat.
• "Would you wait a week before sending anything else?" A pause costs a genuine investment nothing, and it gives you both time to check.

What not to say

Interpol argued on 17 December 2024 that the pig butchering label shames victims and deters them from coming forward to seek help. The same is true at the kitchen table.

• Do not lead with the word scam, or with the name pig butchering. Start with what you have noticed, and let the conclusion come from the evidence.
• Do not ask how they could fall for it. The con is usually run by an organised operation that does this full time, and the question only adds to the shame.
• Do not make them choose between you and the other person. An ultimatum pushes them towards the one person in the story who always agrees with them.
• Do not act behind their back unless you must. Call the bank or report the scam together where you can, so that they keep control of their own money and their own decisions.

If they will not stop

You may not win the first conversation. Keep the door open, agree one small step, such as a pause on new payments or a call to their bank together, and come back to it. If you believe money is still leaving their accounts and they will not act, ask the reporting body for where they live what it can do with a report from a family member.

Reporting a Pig Butchering Scam

In the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) tells fraud victims in England, Wales or Northern Ireland to report to Report Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040, and victims in Scotland to report to Police Scotland by calling 101 (NCSC guidance, read 5 October 2026).

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Report Fraud replaced Action Fraud in December 2025, is run by the City of London Police and kept the old phone number (GOV.UK news story, 4 December 2025).

In the US, report to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov, the body whose complaint figures are quoted on this page (2025 annual report, published 6 April 2026).

The full reporting table, including the EU, the UK's FCA and what each body does and does not do with a report, is in our reporting guide for crypto scam victims.

Report even if you feel embarrassed, and even if your loss looks small next to the figures above. A report with dates, addresses and transaction IDs adds your case to a pattern. It is not a promise that the money will come back, and nobody who contacts you afterwards can turn it into one.

Conclusion

A pig butchering scam is built to feel like the opposite of a scam. It is patient where many scams hurry and personal where many are generic, and it lets you win before it asks you to lose. That is why the tells on this page matter more than the name. The tells are a stranger who will not let a wrong number go, a mentor whose life revolves around trading, a profit that arrives too easily, a platform you did not find yourself, and a fee or a tax standing between you and your money.

The platform is the centre of the con, and its numbers are not evidence. The US Treasury's FinCEN described in September 2023 how deposits go to addresses the scammers control, so what stays on the screen is a figure they can set. The laundering that follows moves the money across blockchains and on through accounts in other countries, which is one reason getting it back is rare. It is also why the decision that protects you most is the one you make before the next payment.

If you are in one, you can leave without anyone's permission. Stop paying, stop replying, check the platform from outside the chat, save the evidence, tell your bank and report it. If someone you love is in one, start with questions rather than verdicts, ask for a pause rather than a confession, and keep talking even when the first conversation goes badly.

Expect the last stage. Someone may contact you offering to get the money back for a fee, sounding official and knowing your losses. Treat that as a second scam and do not pay it. No page, this one included, can promise that money already sent will come back.

For the checks that apply to every kind of scam, and the wider picture of what crypto scams take each year, go back to our crypto scam protection guide. The verification and after-a-scam guides linked above go further on checking a platform and on reporting a loss.

Sources

Every primary source below was read on 5 October 2026. Each entry names the document, its date and what it supports on this page. Figures that belong to another page of this site are named on that page, not here.

• US Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FIN-2023-Alert005, alert on the virtual currency investment scam commonly known as pig butchering, 8 September 2023 — where the name comes from, the stages of the con, the warning signs for websites, apps and accounts, and the 2022 case of seven seized web addresses. fincen.gov
• US Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FIN-2026-Alert005, alert on money laundering by digital asset investment scam centres, 3 September 2026 — the term FinCEN now uses and the FBI's term, recovery scams, the three laundering stages, chain-hopping into stablecoins, foreign bank accounts, the scam centres and the 503 seized websites. fincen.gov
• US FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report, published 6 April 2026 — crypto investment fraud losses and complaints (pp. 11 and 53), the age table (p. 53), the description of these scams as sophisticated and long-term and the pattern of the con (pp. 11 to 12), organised crime and forced labour (p. 11), Operation Level Up (p. 20), and the note that its statistics are a point-in-time assessment (p. 62). ic3.gov
• Interpol, news release urging an end to the term pig butchering, 17 December 2024 — where the term comes from, and the call to replace it with romance baiting. interpol.int
• Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report, scams chapter, published 13 January 2026 — the dominant scam categories by volume, scams linked on-chain to vendors of AI tools, and the share of laundering handled by Chinese-language money laundering networks. chainalysis.com
• UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), Regional Office for South-East Asia, report on online scam operations and trafficking into forced criminality in South-East Asia, August 2023 — the estimates for Myanmar and Cambodia (p. 7). ohchr.org
• UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), press release on its 2026 threat assessment for South-East Asia, 21 July 2026 — the people from at least 80 countries and territories identified in scam compounds. unodc.org
• UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Crypto investment scams, last updated 16 February 2026 — faked prices and returns, and how to search the Financial Services Register for a crypto firm. fca.org.uk
• US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), press release 8936-24, 30 July 2024 — the scam's other names, the daily messages of the rapport stage, the small first withdrawal, recovery scams as advance-fee fraud, and why recovering money lost to fraud is rare. cftc.gov
• GOV.UK, Serious Fraud Office news story, Report Fraud: New service from City of London Police, 4 December 2025 — the replacement of Action Fraud by Report Fraud and the unchanged phone number. gov.uk
• UK National Cyber Security Centre, Report a scam email, read 5 October 2026 — the reporting routes for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and for Scotland. ncsc.gov.uk
• The checks that apply to every scam, and the total Chainalysis measured across all crypto scams in 2025, are on our crypto scam protection guide.
• Registers, domains and apps, checked one by one, are on our guide to verifying a crypto platform.
• Reporting by jurisdiction, recovery scams and the first hours after a loss are on our guide to what to do after a crypto scam.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a pig butchering scam?

It is a long investment con in which a stranger builds a friendship or a romance over time, then steers the victim to a fake trading platform that shows profits but blocks withdrawals with fees and taxes. In the US, FinCEN explained in its alert of 8 September 2023 that the name compares the scam to fattening a hog before slaughter. Interpol asked on 17 December 2024 for the term romance baiting to be used instead, and the US Treasury's FinCEN said on 3 September 2026 that it now uses the term digital asset investment scam.

How much do people lose to crypto investment fraud?

In the US, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) said in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that cryptocurrency investment fraud was the largest source of reported losses to Americans in 2025, at $7.2 billion from 61,559 complaints. The figure counts only the losses that complainants chose to report to the US IC3, so it is not a count of everything lost.

If I can withdraw a small amount, does that prove the platform is real?

No. In the US, FinCEN said in its alert of 8 September 2023 that scammers may allow a small withdrawal to build the victim's confidence before urging them to invest more. A small withdrawal proves only that the scammer can afford to return a small amount. Ask to take out the whole balance without paying anything first, and stop if a fee or a tax appears.

The platform says I must pay tax before I can withdraw. Should I pay it?

No. In the US, FinCEN lists transfers that a customer describes as paying taxes, fees or penalties to a crypto platform as a red flag for this scam (alert of 8 September 2023). In the US, the IC3 describes these charges as a final attempt to extract money before the scammers disappear with the victim's funds (2025 annual report, published 6 April 2026). Stop paying, save the evidence and report it.

Can money sent to a pig butchering scam be recovered?

Rarely. In the US, the CFTC warned on 30 July 2024 that recovering money lost to fraud is rare, and more difficult if dollars are first converted into crypto assets. Report the scam anyway, and treat any offer to get the money back for a fee as a second scam: in the US, FinCEN warned on 3 September 2026 that scammers may target the same victims again with recovery scams.

How do I talk to a family member who is in a pig butchering scam?

Start with questions rather than verdicts, ask them to pause new payments for a week, and offer to check the platform together from an address you type yourselves. Expect disbelief: in the US, the IC3 reported that 78% of the 3,780 crypto investment fraud victims notified by the FBI's Operation Level Up in 2025 did not know they were being scammed (2025 annual report, published 6 April 2026).

Who is behind pig butchering scams?

In the US, the IC3 said in its 2025 annual report, published on 6 April 2026, that crypto investment scams are largely run by organised criminal enterprises based in South-East Asia that use victims of human trafficking as forced labour. The person writing to you may be one of those victims, so do not argue or try to rescue them: stop replying, save the messages, then block the account and report it.

Financial Disclaimer

This content is not financial advice. All information provided is for educational purposes only. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant investment risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.