Cryptocurrency-based crime has metastasized into many forms. Because of the ease with which cryptocurrency ignores borders and enables multinational crime rings to quickly obtain and launder funds, and because of widespread confusion about how cryptocurrency functions, a wide range of confidence scams have focused on convincing victims to convert their personal savings to crypto—and then separate them from it.
Among these sorts of organized criminal activities, none seem as pervasive as “pig butchering” (from the Mandarin term, sha zhu pan, coined to describe the activity). Most of these scams use dating applications or other social media to lure victims into what they think is a budding romantic or platonic relationship, and then introduce a fraudulent scheme to make money together.
