Pig Butchering Scam: How It Works and How to Get Your Money Back

What is a Pig Butchering Scam?

A pig butchering scam is a longer-term type of fraud where a fraudster builds trust and an emotional connection with the victim before persuading them to invest in a cryptocurrency or standard investment platform.

The victim is provided with small early wins and encouraged to invest larger amounts as the scam progresses, before a final ‘butchering’ takes place where all the funds are drained.

The term ‘pig butchering’ originates from China as a description of the scammers' approach to deceiving a victim. Alternative terms include: “romance investment scam”, “crypto romance scam”, “relationship investment scam”, and “romance baiting”. 

How a Pig Butchering Scam Works, Stage by Stage

First Contact

• The scammer makes contact with the victim, which can be initiated in a number of ways. They may approach you unsolicited through social media, a dating site, email or a phone call, or you may see an advertisement for the platform and enter your details to be contacted further. 

Building trust

• Once contact is initiated, the scammer will look to build your trust in a number of ways. They may try to foster a relationship with you and be overly complimentary, moving the relationship quickly. In other cases, they may seek to build a friendship and present themselves as a wealthy individual who has earned a lot of money through investments. This leads to the next step of the scam.

The Investment Pitch

• Once the scammer has gained your trust, they will present the investment ‘opportunity’ to you. They will claim you can earn large returns through crypto, forex, or commodities. They will show you a trading platform that looks legitimate and tell you how easy it is to earn money through investing. This is all very convincing, so watch out for the red flags.

The Fake Profits

• Once they have persuaded you to invest, they will provide you with access to the trading platform. The trading platform will look genuine, and you will see your money making ‘profit’ through the platform. Unfortunately, the ‘profit’ you see your money making is fake and a tactic to persuade you to invest further. The platform is controlled by the scammers and is fake as well.

The blocked withdrawal

• After being persuaded to invest a large amount of money, you may want to withdraw your funds from the platform. The scammers will block the withdrawal and claim that you need to pay fees in order to withdraw the money. Do not pay any further fees; this is solely another tactic to extract more money from you.

The full process of the scam describes a typical ‘pig butchering’ scam, and the scammers will continue to try and exploit further funds from you until you have nothing left. Even after you have realised it was a scam, they will pose as ‘recovery agents’ to attempt to extract further payment from you; this is known as a recovery scam.

Pig Butchering vs Romance Scams and Investment Scams

Pig butchering isn’t a separate category from romance and investment scams; it’s the umbrella scam tactic that powers both. A romance scam becomes a pig butchering scam when a relationship is used to steer the victim towards a fake investment platform. The same applies to an investment scam; it becomes a type of pig butchering when the scammer has built up a relationship with the victim before conducting the investment scam.

The distinction is that pig butchering is a scam tactic regularly used within romance and investment scams. Romance and investment scams still happen regularly without the slower, emotional relationship-building used in pig butchering.

How to Spot a Pig Butchering Scam Early

It is important to know how to spot the warning signs of a pig butchering scam, here are some ways you can spot one:

The relationship moves quickly

• The scammers move quickly when trying to establish trust and a relationship. They will send multiple messages a day and confess their feelings early on, or tell you parts of their fake story to gain your trust. In romance scams, they may use phrases like ‘I’ve never felt like this before’ or ‘you’re the only one I’ve told about this’.

They claim to be a trading expert or have insider knowledge

• As part of their fake story, the scammer will claim that they have expert trading knowledge or that they possess insider trading information that has made them large amounts of money. They may display a wealthy lifestyle, fake profits, or documentation that supports their story. This is all a trick to persuade you to invest with them.

They provide early withdrawals that work

• Another tactic to build your trust in the investment and them is to provide you with withdrawals early on. They will allow you to withdraw small amounts, which will be used as a tactic to persuade you to invest further.

They avoid video calls or meeting in person

• Typically, with scammers, they will avoid any form of physical meetings. When you ask this, they will use excuses as to why they cannot attend and keep the conversation through messaging apps such as WhatsApp. It is important to note that, with the advancements in AI technology, scammers can use deepfake videos to trick you into believing you are talking to another person. 

No Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorisation  

• Any company or individual offering investment advice needs to be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. If there is no authorisation from the FCA, then this is a major red flag when they are advising on investing. It is important to remember that scammers can clone legitimate FCA-regulated companies, and you should always check the verified contact details on the FCA register.

Pressure to invest and increase the size of investments

• Once they have persuaded you to invest small amounts at the start, the pressure and requests to invest further will arise. They will claim you need to capitalise on the profits you have made and deposit further funds to make even more money. The pressure tactics can be aggressive, and they may even push you into taking out loans or borrowing from friends and family.

Withdrawal fees

• When you want to withdraw your profits, the scammers will block this and ask for fees in order to facilitate it. The fees can be for a number of reasons, such as tax, anti-money laundering, blockchain fees, or solely withdrawal fees. It is important to remember that no legitimate company would ask for fees in order to withdraw.

What to Do If You've Already Sent Money

If you have already sent money then do not panic, there are steps you can take, quickly but calmly:

1. Cut all contact with the scammers
2. Do not send any further money
3. Report it to your bank
4. Gather and preserve all evidence
5. Report it to Report Fraud (Previously Action Fraud)
6. Look at recovery options yourself, or through a FCA-regulated specialist such as Refundee

We have a written a guide on how you can make a claim yourself through your bank, and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Can You Get Your Money Back After a Pig Butchering Scam?

Your chances of recovering funds after a pig butchering scam mainly depend on how you paid. Read below for the protections you have, depending on the type of payment you made.

UK to UK bank transfer

If you sent the funds from and to a UK bank account then you have strong protections to recover your funds. Since the PSR's Mandatory Reimbursement Rules were introduced in October 2024, victims now have a legal right to reimbursement.

Key rules of the Mandatory Reimbursement model:

• Covers UK to UK payments via faster payments and retail CHAPS payments
• Maximum refund of £85,000 per claim
• Banks can deduct an excess of £100 per claim (This does not apply to vulnerable customers)
• Victims must report the the scam and provide the info promptly 
• Banks cannot delay claims indefinitely

What this means for you: If you were manipulated into transferring money, getting your money back from your bank will likely mean they have to reimburse you, and quickly.

UK bank to cryptocurrency  

If you paid through cryptocurrency, you still have protections.

Recovering your money means holding your bank or payment provider accountable for allowing the fraudulent transaction to proceed when they had regulatory obligations to protect you. 

You can read more about this in our crypto recovery UK article.

Getting Help With a Pig Butchering Claim

Regardless of how you paid, Refundee can assess your recovery options with a no-obligation case review. We can provide clear steps and guidance on what your chances of recovery are. 

We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and we specialise in fraud recovery.

We have already helped thousands of clients recover over £140 million lost to fraud. 

Start your free eligibility assessment here

At Refundee, we understand the impact that being scammed can have; our team are experts in recovering funds whilst providing you with clear guidance and support throughout the process.  

We regularly advocate to improve fraud victims' rights to ensure they receive fair and proper treatment. We have featured on the BBC and ITV raising awareness for fraud victims in the UK - read more about our press appearances.   

You can also read more about why people choose Refundee on our verified Trustpilot reviews.

More about Refundee

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Registered office address: Refundee, 3rd Floor, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE.

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