Glossary
Pig Butchering
A long-con crypto scam where a stranger builds a relationship over weeks, then lures the victim into a fake investment platform before vanishing with the funds.
Pig butchering (from the Mandarin shā zhū pán) is a social- engineering scam named for the way victims are "fattened up" before slaughter. The attacker opens with a wrong-number text or a dating- app match, spends weeks building trust, then introduces a fake crypto trading or "yield" platform showing fabricated profits.
Small early withdrawals work, which convinces the victim to deposit more. When they try to cash out the inflated balance, they are hit with surprise "taxes" or "fees" — and eventually the site and the contact disappear. Unlike a phishing drain, no key is stolen: the victim sends funds willingly. The defenses are human, not technical — treat unsolicited investment tips from new online contacts as hostile.