Some time last week, Nigerian law enforcement agents swooped on a seven-storey office block in Lagos, arresting nearly 800 people.
Inside the office block — easily passing for a legit financial HQ — hid a slick operation: hundreds of computers and SIM cards, and 200 foreign nationals roped into running one of the world’s most lucrative crypto scams.
Pig butchering — a calculated, insidious con that’s drained billions from victims worldwide.
Emerging in Asia in the 2010s, according to blockchain firm Chainalysis, the fraud has truly gone global, targeting victims in North America, Europe, and beyond. It’s a filthy business, but one that pays rich dividends to the criminal syndicates behind them.
Pig butchering scams likely stole about $75 billion from victims around the world between January 2020 and February 2024, according to a University of Texas study earlier this year.
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Swipe right, get scammed
Pig butchering is as gross and dehumanizing as it sounds, often silencing its victims — prompting INTERPOL to advocate for the term “romance baiting” instead.
The MO is simple and brutal: Scammers “fatten up” their victims by building trust through fake “romantic” relationships or “investment” opportunities and… then one day they drain their accounts when they least expect it.
These scams start simple — a wrong number text from an attractive face, or a friendly “Hey, remember me?” in your DMs. Ring a bell? Hopefully, you have not been gullible enough to take the bait.
Because if you did, you’d soon find yourself chatting with a too-good-to-be-true online pal who after showering you with attention for weeks, sometimes months, would push you the “investment opportunity” of a lifetime.
Everything looks legit. A slick platform. Flashy charts. Rising balances. They might even let you ‘taste’ some returns… before one day completely wiping your account.
Once they’ve more or less milked you dry, expect to be asked for more $$ to release your funds. Followed by being ghosted.
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A global op
Adam Hart, investigations product manager at Chainalysis, tells MONIIFY that most of the organized fraudsters are in Southeast Asia, operating scam compounds in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.
From grim setups, where they exploit trafficked workers under threats of beatings, torture, and starvation, they run “localized” campaigns, using languages like Spanish, Korean, and English to target victims worldwide.
The scammers go where the victims are: LinkedIn, X, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and even dating apps like Bumble and Tinder.
The most popular apps tend to be the most popular with scammers, Hart says.
Their targets: Anyone willing to chat online, he says. Romance, friendship, investment mentorship, job offers — they will exploit loneliness or tough times to reel you in.
In Lagos, for example, the scamsters were trained to impersonate women online, targeting Americans, Europeans, and Canadians.
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Crypto connection
A common link to all these scams is crypto. Why? It’s fast and easy and plays right into the “get rich quick” hype, says Hart. Scammers know that the thrill of real, big, returns can cloud judgement, making it easier to dupe victims.
There is hope, though. Law enforcement authorities around the world are starting to find success by “following the money” on the blockchain, says Hart.
In some cases, they have worked with major crypto players to freeze large amounts of stolen funds before the scammers can cash out.
Reporting these crimes is key. The shame of having fallen victim to the scam means many people are hesitant to report the crime, says Hart.
But they should. Things are not hopeless, he says, stressing that progress is made when victims report and share their data with the agencies fighting back.
Still, scams like these are not slowing down. And while they are absolutely devastating for individuals — draining life savings or retirement funds — they are also dragging crypto’s already shaky reputation deeper into the mud.
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