Over the past few years, huge scamming operations have operated in Southeast Asia, and now they are spreading. These scams—known as pig butchering scams—cause serious harm, as in an estimated $75 billion worldwide in 2023.

With these sorts of operations spreading, let’s go over what pig butchering is. 

What is Pig Butchering?

Traditionally, farmers process their swine to make them ideal for the market. Pig butchering scams do the same. Much like farmers fatten up their droves, these pig butchering operations will nurture a single target over time, building what appears to be a long-distance, intimate relationship with the target. Once the target is well and truly hooked, the scammer requests that they send cryptocurrency to help them get out of a jam.

The victim does so, and suddenly, a meaningful relationship is torn from their life as the scammer vanishes, off to swindle their next victim.

These attacks can leave their victims crushed, and it doesn’t help that the people running these scams are often enslaved themselves, abducted and forced to steal in exchange for freedom that likely will never come.

These operations have since spread from Southeast Asia to across the world. Dubai has become almost an epicenter for these activities in the past few years, with its massive international migrant population serving as a buffet of targets for the people running the scams to manipulate and effectively imprison.

Similarly, these scams have started stretching across Africa, as gangs operating in Nigeria and other countries have begun adopting these tactics as well. With a history of similar scams associated with that region and prefabricated pig butchering kits available for sale, it has become incredibly simple for these scams to spread.

These scam centers have also been spotted in Georgia, Peru, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, and the Isle of Man, meaning the chance of you being targeted only increases as time passes.

How You and Your Team Should Avoid Pig Butchering

While pig butchering scams generally target individuals, you want your team members to be as cybersecure as possible. After all, who’s to say that an online paramour wouldn’t try to convince them to steal your financial accounts?

Make sure your team knows about attacks like phishing and spoofing and how easy it is for scammers to mine the internet for photos and even videos to fool them… especially with AI now on the table. Your team must know and practice safeguards against these threats and the many others that are out there today.

This is a big part of how you need to prepare your business to contend with cyberattacks as well, and we can help. Contact us at (415) 295-4898 to learn more about what we can do to help protect your business.