A tech executive fell victim to a romance scammer posing as a French wine trader she met on Hinge, charming her into investing in fake cryptocurrencies. Unsuspecting, she downloaded the crypto trading app, invested on the trading app. Her investment doubled soon, and she soon learned that the trading app was a fraudulent platform. So was the French wine trader.

“It’s like my psychology was hacked,” she’d say. By then, she had lost $450,000.

“The two never met in person but they spoke via video chat twice - though Ancel [the French wine trader] only showed her his dog on the call”, Mail Online reported on 11 May 2023 [1].

This type of scam is referred to as the Pig Butchering Scam. The pig butchering scam is a type of romance scam that involves scammers creating fake profiles on dating websites and apps. They then use these profiles to target victims, often by pretending to be wealthy and successful individuals. Once they have gained the victim's trust, the scammers will start to ask for money.

“The scammers refer to their victims as pigs, whom they fatten up to be "butchered" - or conned, out of as much money as possible.

There are other variants of the pig butchering scams that are not romance scams. To stay relevant and deceive more victims, the pig butchering attacks are evolving with more compelling narratives to draw targets in and more sophisticated tech to convince victims that there’s big money to be made, according to Sophos.

A Kind of Technology

In the pig-butchering romance scam, scammers use social media, email, and other forms of communication to learn about their victims' personal lives, interests, and vulnerabilities. They may engage victims through these platforms, usually suggesting moving to a personal and private chat avenue such as Whatsapp to be more exclusive. From these chats, they gleaned information on all manner of things from how much the victims earn, what they do for a living, what they did with their leisure time and so forth. It is not surprising that they focus on the “human factor”.

Drawing parallel from Morris Viteles’ industrial psychology, the failure to study the character, to analyse the conditions that influence the effectiveness of the human behaviour can only result in individual maladjustment. In industrial psychology, there is a term fitting the person to the job, here the situation is akin to fitting the pig to the butchering table.

The first stage is about victim selection to ensure the victim fits the condition to be fattened and subsequently slaughtered. At the same time, they will create the conditions that, under which the victims will be lured to take the bait be this through improving processes, the scammers themselves or any other measures. The basic objective encompasses a range of nature and nurturing – you either recruit the ideal victim or you cultivate the ideal victim. In addition to all things, this is also ‘a kind of technology’.

Here, let us look at how the psychology of pig butchering scams represented:

1. Instrumentalization of psychological theories,
2. A product of material instrument and tools and
3. A technology of control.

Instrumentalization of psychological theories

This is a prime example of how psychological theories are used to manipulate people. They understand that people are more likely to trust someone they know and like, so they take the time to build relationships with their victims. They also understand that people are more likely to invest in something that they believe will make them money, so they use false promises of high returns to lure victims into investing.

• Social proof: Gaining the victim's trust via methods like love bombing to create a sense of intense love and attachment, shower the victims with love and attention. The idea is to make it difficult for the victim to see the scammer for who they really are. Moreover, people are more likely to trust something if they see that other people are doing it. Scammers will often use social proof to convince victims to invest in their schemes. They may post fake testimonials on their websites or social media pages, or they may use fake news articles to make it seem like their scheme is legitimate. Additionally, scammers may use names, titles, or other information that is familiar to their victims to make them feel more comfortable.

• Scarcity, Fear of Missing Out: Scammers may use greed to manipulate their victims by telling them that they can make a lot of money if they invest in a particular scheme. Creating a sense of urgency by telling their victims that they need to act quickly or they will miss out on a great opportunity. People are more likely to want something if they think it is scarce. Scammers will often use scarcity to create a sense of urgency in their victims. They may tell victims that the investment opportunity is only available for a limited time, or they may say that the price of the cryptocurrency is going to go up soon.

• Mirroring can help to establish rapport with the victim. By exhibiting similar actions, attitudes and speech patterns, expectations or desires, the other person would more likely to develop trusting intentions due to the belief that they are more similar and thus more likely to be friend. “Just like you, I suffered a lost and have been scarred deeply, I know what it's like to yearn for love.” Once they forged a connection, the sob starts, or the quest “for our future” begins.

Playing on the victim's emotions using psychological manipulation in which the abuser makes the victim doubt their own reality. They may do this by denying things that happened, making the victim feel like they are over reacting or overly suspicious or even blaming them for the abuser's behaviour. This can make the victim feel confused and isolated, and it can make it difficult for them to trust their own judgment and tend to follow suit.

Product of material instruments and tools

• The Internet: The internet has made it easier for scammers to reach a wider audience. Scammers can create fake profiles on dating websites and social media platforms to find victims. They can also use the internet to send phishing emails and to set up fake investment websites.

• Technology: Technology has made it easier for scammers to steal personal information. Scammers can use malware to steal passwords and credit card numbers. They can also use social engineering techniques to trick victims into giving them personal information.

• Money: Money is the primary motivation for scammers. Scammers are motivated by the desire to make money quickly and easily. They are not interested in building relationships or providing legitimate services.

A Technology of Control

The pig butchering scam is a technology of control because it uses psychological techniques to manipulate victims into giving up their money. Scammers are able to exploit the vulnerabilities of their victims by understanding human psychology.

• It is a way to control people's finances. Scammers often target people who are vulnerable financially, such as those who are struggling to make ends meet. Once they have gained the victim's trust, they will then ask for money for various reasons, such as travel expenses, medical bills, or business investments. Once the victim has sent money, the scammers will disappear.

• It is a way to control people's emotions. Scammers often use emotional manipulation techniques to get what they want. They may make victims feel sorry for them, or they may make them feel like they are missing out on a great opportunity. Once the victim is emotionally invested, they are more likely to make decisions that they would not normally make, such as giving up their money.

Additional Note:

Many pig butchering operations are reportedly run by criminal syndicates in the southern port town of Sihanoukville, Cambodia which employ thousands of people who were confined, tortured, and forced to work online romance scams [2-3]. The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration responded that the video does not report the reality of the current situation and “made wrongful conclusions and groundless allegations.”

Other variants of romance scams include:

• Employment scams: Scammers will pose as employers and offer victims fake jobs. Once the victim has accepted the job, the scammer will ask for money for various reasons, such as travel expenses, training fees, or equipment. Once the victim has sent money, the scammer will disappear. In some cases, these job seekers become victims of trafficking.

  • Reports by Vice News and the South China Morning Post found last year that workers themselves are enslaved and abused, having been lured there with the promise of a legitimate lucrative job.
  • In Taiwan, the recruits were sold for US17,000 - US18,000 per person to telecom fraud syndicates in Cambodia and turned over to syndicates in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and other parts of Cambodia.
  • In Malaysia, a young man died in Thailand after falling victim to Chinese gangs preying on vulnerable young people. They were also threatened with stories of people having their organs taken, being buried alive, or transported to another place to face even worse conditions.

• Tech support scams: Scammers will pose as tech support representatives and call victims claiming that there is a problem with their computer. Once the victim has given the scammer access to their computer, the scammer will install malware or steal personal information.

  • According to The Straits Times, victims would receive a pop-up alert while using an Internet browser, informing them that their computer has been infected with a virus or spyware. Usually such encounters took the form of pop-up alerts on movie or video streaming sites such as dramacool and olevod.com. Upon clicking the link, the computer will freeze and they will be given a number to contact.

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References

[1] H. Kelly, “‘I was in a trance’: Tech executive is scammed out of $450,000 by man she met on Hinge in cruel ‘pig butchering’ ploy - which experts warn is on the rise,” Daily Mail Online, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12072915/Tech-executive-scammed-450-000-man-met-Hinge-cruel-pig-butchering-ploy.html (accessed May 14, 2023).

[2] “BBC report on human trafficking irks Cambodia - UCA News,” ucanews.com. https://www.ucanews.com/news/bbc-report-on-human-trafficking-irks-cambodia/101056 (accessed May 14, 2023)

‌[3] “Inside multi-million dollar scamming world of ‘pig butchers,’” BBC News. Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-64884036. (accessed May 14, 2023)