The Menace of Pig Butchering Scams in Pakistan

This article is a companion piece to the Tech Made Fun Episode – TMF 017 – Do Number Kasayi – Avoiding Tech Scams as a Pakistani

Today, I’m going to write about a new (at least here) kind of scam called ‘Pig Butchering Scams’. Think of these scams as a sophisticated evolution of the ‘Nigerian Prince’ scams on the internet. Pig Butchering Scams are a multi-billion dollar industry and one which has seriously affected people by robbing them out of their money, that includes everyday folks to business-leaders. 

This article is a deep-dive into How these scams operate, Who are these scammers and How they affect you and me, basically everybody on the internet. I’ll also discuss what you can do to stay ahead of the scammers and go a bit deep into the overall structure of such scams.

But first, let’s start by first deconstructing where the term ‘Pig Butchering Scams ’ came from and what does it even mean?

What is a Pig Butchering Scam?

Pig-butchering, or sha zhu pan, is Chinese criminal slang. The word ‘Pig Butchering’ comes from the initial phases of this scam. The victim (the ‘pig’ here) is initially made to trust a fake online persona of a scammer. This phase is called fattening the pig. Once the victim has enough trust that is when the scammer ‘slaughters them’ – which means takes their money and runs away. These scams are also called ‘Romance Scams’.

To explain simply, Pig Butchering scams are investment frauds where the victim is tricked into a fake relationship through different online platforms like social media apps or dating sites by a scammer. In these scams, Scammers build fake personas and stories to convince the victim of investing in a fraud scheme that is totally made-up. 

These are highly targeted scams where scammers put extra effort into developing a fake relationship with the victim and gradually convincing them of the investment fraud. The investment in the fraud scheme is most of the time conducted through cryptocurrencies. The usual pitch is of an investment with returns that are too good to be true.

How Pig Butchering Scams Work?

Most of the Pig Butchering Scams follow a gradual approach to fraud innocent people out of their money. Usually there are 4 steps to such a scam. They are discussed in detail below:

Picking the Pig

This is the point where a victim is approached by the scammer trying to strike up a conversation on an unrelated point. This first interaction is online usually through a messaging/social media app like WhatsApp, Facebook, Linkedin etc, or a dating app. The scammer builds fake online profiles to approach their victims and tune them based on similar traits among the targets.

As the victim replies to his first message, the scammer presents a fake persona of an attractive single or a successful investor made-up by the scammer. This is where the scammer would initiate the attack and craft up a fake personality by getting to know his victim. 

The first contact is usually a pre-written message that is crafted for targeting individuals that belong to a specific Age-range, Income-bracket or those who don’t have much familiarity with technology. Using a range of tools the scammer tries their best to present a credible personality to the victim that is totally fake in reality.

Raising the Pig

The scammer doesn’t bring the fake investment on the first day. Rather it’s a slow and gradual process. The scammers can spend weeks or even months trying to be a romantic or an empathetic partner who takes advantage of the victim by showing them emotional understanding and support just to earn their trust.

Building this trust is essential and that is what the scammer needs to take the scam further. The scammer would usually send agreeing messages to the victim’s beliefs and situations. They may even exchange gifts in an attempt to build more trust.

Cutting the Pig 

Slowly working on the newly-made relationship, the scammer shows some made-up screenshots to entice the victim to follow him in the investing gig. This goes on with the scammer providing victim access to apps created by scammer networks just to fool victims. These apps look similar to popular crypto trading apps but are made by scammers purposely to confuse the victims with actual platforms.

Butchering the Pig

This is the part where the scammer has achieved his first objective and now goes further to squeeze every last drop of juice from the victim, their friends and family. The scammer’s initial objective is to convince the victim enough to invest as much as they can into the fake investment fraud but the scam doesn’t stop there.

It continues by convincing the victim to push their friends, family and loved ones through word of mouth. The victim at this point is still not sure about the scam and unknowingly goes out to share the fake investment fraud with those close to him.

As the victim invests, that is where all the contact goes off. The scammer simply disappears into oblivion and the victim is left with their money stolen by a person that never existed. 

Global Impact of Pig Butchering Scams

Pig Butchering Scams are a relatively new phenomenon that has gotten a lot of traction especially during Covid days. A recent article by the Economist terms Pig Butchering Scams as the most lucrative scam in a global industry that steals over $500bn from victims all around the world.

A UN study concluded that this industry employed roughly 250,000 people in third world countries. Another study estimates about 1.5M people working with the Pig Butchering Scams. 

These scams are not just small groups trying to scam people out of their money but now they have turned into organized crime networks employing or forcefully taking advantage of people to contribute to their businesses built around Pig Butchering Scams.

The Scammers Behind Pig Butchering Scams

When the word ‘scammer’ is thrown at you, You may think of someone young from an underdeveloped country sitting in his home that is the main guy to blame. But that is generally not how Pig Butchering Scams operate and the situation with these scammers is much more complicated than that usual ones.

These scammers may be people who have been subjects of human trafficking. These could be people mostly made slaves in under-developed countries. In most instances, they don’t have much choice. Many of them are forced to work in this organized crime industry.

The Operations behind Pig Butchering Scams

Most of the time, the scammers behind these scams are themselves subject of human trafficking and are made slaves. They are kept in large buildings or complexes with Grocery stores, Gambling Dens, Brothels and Drug businesses operating nearby. They are also subject to torture and abuse if they cause any disturbance to these criminal enterprises.

As we talked, Pig Butchering Scams are very systematic scams. The large complexes or buildings made to operate such scams act as prison camps for the scammers who are forced to live their lives around them.  

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Who are the targets of Pig Butchering Scams?

To put it simply: Everyone, From individuals like you and me to CEOs. The unfortunate thing about Pig Butchering Scams is that everyone who uses the Internet is a target in one way or another. No one is safe from these scams. There have been documented stories of PHD holders being scammed, Chief Executives of Banks being scammed and even relatives of FBI Operatives being manipulated into these Pig Butchering Scams. 

Pig Butchering Scams don’t just target lonely people looking for a romantic partner. These scammers exploit human weaknesses like Fear, Greed, Loneliness, Grief and Boredom.

There is an entire podcast series by the name of ‘Scam Inc’ linked in the References down below, covering detailed podcasts with victims of Pig Butchering Scams from all walks of life.

How not to end up like a ‘Pig’?

Now, I’ll share some of the traits of a potential Pig Butchering Scams that an average Bashir could look out for. I’ll also share advice for catching these Pig Butchering Scams so you can act on them yourself and share with your loved ones.

Unsolicited Messages 

Always be doubtful of random messages out of nowhere. You should always be doubtful of random strangers trying to strike up a conversation with you. Don’t accept random chat invite links especially from people you don’t know because that’s where most of the scams emerge from. 

If someone is being extra cheesy with you, ask yourself what could be the possible reason that someone who never knew me minutes ago is suddenly the nicest person I’ve ever seen. Use your common sense, observe their behavior and if anything looks out of order, Run!

Too Good to be true Offer

It’s quite easy for a scammer to be active in random communities trying to promise returns that are too good to be true. They can confuse the victims by confusing them into technical details of the investment and that confusion coupled with the greed for too good to be true returns is what causes the victim their money.

Always be skeptical of high value returns on small term investments. Most of them don’t work in the real world. Understand that there is no easy money!

Research! Research! Research! Before Investing

This point can’t be stressed enough but the lack of research is how banks lose millions and individuals like you and me get scammed out of life savings. You should never ever invest a single penny unless you have Talked to Experts in your area of investment, Consulted Regulatory authorities for information.

Make sure to verify the legitimacy of the business you’re giving your money to with government regulating agencies. Checkout reviews for the apps/websites. If there’s ever an iota of confusion, just don’t proceed and consult some experts!

Internet Hygiene

Every individual or a business online should focus on maintaining a clear cyber hygiene on the internet keeping track of what they share on the Internet. Regularly check if personally identifiable information like your phone numbers, email, addresses have ever been leaked in some data breach. 

Several trusted sites offer data lookup services. The most important thing is to be mindful of who you’re sharing such information with. Don’t share anything that could get you in trouble on the Internet. Because once your information is out there, it’s out there.

For my fellow Pakistanis

In Pakistan, A lot of young people want to make money. When I talk to young people of my age I see that they are interested in making money and improving their lives but a lot of them are confused about the idea of making money. Unfortunately these are among the most vulnerable groups to Pig Butchering Scams.

Much of the young population is part of groups with the goal of ‘educating’ people about Investments and Money-making. Sadly most of them are scams and even if some are not. You can find scammers in those groups that are hunting for their next prey.

Ideally you should never invest in Un-regulated Investment areas (like cryptocurrency in Pakistan). Just stay out of investing in someplace you aren’t educated about. If you haven’t spent months or years in research around an Investment arena, Please for the love of God stay away from investing your money. Never go with an investment just because a friend or a relative made some good return on it. 

If you’re young, You should take part in communities and focus on educating yourself first (like The Wandering Pro Discord). It’s a good thing to network and talk to people who have been successful. But you are responsible for your decisions and actions. Keep in mind that if you invest your money in a bad place, there are close to no chances of you being rescued by any institution, especially in Pakistan. And if the area you invest in isn’t regulated here it could be serious trouble.

As always, Thanks for reading the post and if you think you have found some value through my writing feel free to share your feedback in The Wandering Pro Discord or by emailing at admin@sknexus.com

References

The vast, sophisticated and fast-growing global enterprise that is Scam Inc
Unmasking Pig-Butchering Scams And Protecting Your Financial Future
Pig Butchering Scams, how they work and how to avoid them
Hacker Lexicon: What Is a Pig Butchering Scams?
New Study Estimates as Much as $75 Billion in Global Victims’ Losses to Pig-Butchering Scam

Past Pakistani Crypto Scams:

FIA issues notice to crypto exchange Binance in multi-million dollar scam
Pakistan’s Investigation Agency Contacts Binance About $100M Scam
FIA chief orders arrest of culprits in crypto scam

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