What is China’s Pig Butchering Scam?
To keep my language skills sharp, I like to read in Mandarin whenever I get the chance. One of the topics I stumbled across while scrolling through Baidu was the Pig Butchering Scam, which, as a vegetarian, immediately caught my eye.
Pig Butchering scam (殺豬盤 shā zhū pán) is a popular internet term in China, referring to scammers who use online dating to lure victims into investing in cryptocurrency and then vanish. As Wikipedia points out, this term comes from “fattening the pig before slaughter.”
A pig butchering scam refers to fraudsters who use social media, dating websites, and other platforms to find targets. They use stolen pictures, fabricated information, and scripted conversations to create a perfect “tall, handsome, and rich” (高富帥 gāofù shuài) or “white, rich, and beautiful” (白富美 bái fùměi) avatar.
CNN reported a pig butchering scam of a Chinese-American man in San Francisco struggling to pay his father’s hospital bills. In general, scams tend to focus on individuals in a state of desperation and vulnerability.
Gaining Trust
They gain the victim’s trust through daily caring “scripted conversations” and a barrage of sweet talk. Then, the victim is lured into investing, gambling, and so on.
Initially, the scammer allows the victim to gain a small profit. When the victim gets a taste of success and invests increasingly large amounts, some scammers promise to marry the victim. They promise to hold a grand wedding once they make money. When the victim ultimately lets down their guard and invests a large amount, sometimes even their entire savings, the scammer will trick the victim into deleting relevant evidence, block the victim, and disappear without a trace.
Scam Terminology
Let’s look at the ‘jargon” in this type of scam: “Pig” (豬 zhū) is the scam target, i.e., the victim. “The butcher” (屠夫 túfū) is the scam gang. A “pigpen” (豬圈 zhū quān) is the social platform where the scammer finds their intended victim. “Pig feed” (豬飼料 zhū sìliào) is the dating routine, such as buying flowers and birthday gifts for the scam target. ”Raising a pig” (養豬 yǎng zhū) is establishing a romantic relationship. Lastly, “slaughtering a pig” (殺豬 shā zhū) is defrauding the victim of money.
Why Dubb it Pig Butchering?
The reason it’s called “pig butchering” stems from the practice of rural Chinese people raising pigs for meat. In rural China, many people raise pigs. After the pigs grow up and become fat, people will sell the pigs for money or slaughter them for meat. Fraudsters gradually gain the trust of their victims by chatting with them and understanding their financial situation. After waiting until the money is ripe, they cheat them out of all their money. This situation is similar to ordinary people raising pigs.
Many victims still don’t believe they have been cheated even after the police come to their door. Some worry about the safety of scammers, fearing they may be unreachable if something happens to them.
Stay Vigilant
A reminder to everyone: be vigilant when making friends online. It’s important to be cautious about sharing personal information, especially with online friends who refuse to meet in person or who you’ve never seen.
In Chinese, there is the saying: “A virtuous man makes his fortune in a proper way” (君子爱财，取之有道 jūnzǐ ài cái, qǔ zhī yǒu dào). Avoid falling for the trap of unrealistic financial strategies or get-rich-quick schemes. They may seem tempting, but in reality, they often lead to disappointment and loss like the victims of pig butchering scams. Instead, focus on building a solid financial foundation through smart investments and disciplined saving. Your long-term financial success depends on making sound decisions and being patient.
Are you interested in reading more? If so, you may want to check out an article about Chinese Fake Products You’ve Never Heard Of to continue your exploration.
