A new study suggests that "pig butchering" scammers have stolen over $75 billion from victims worldwide, surpassing previous estimates. The fraud, which has gained popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, involves luring victims into fake crypto investments. Researchers tracked the flow of funds from victims to scammers, who are primarily based in Southeast Asia. The criminal networks moved the stolen funds to crypto exchanges over a four-year period. The study highlights the scale and resilience of these organized criminal networks.
"Pig butchering" scams often start with what appears to be a wrong-number text message. People who respond are then lured into fake crypto investments.– "Pig-butchering" scammers have likely stolen more than US$75 billion (S$101 billion) from victims around the world, far more than previously estimated, according to a new study.
Dr John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and graduate student Kevin Mei gathered crypto addresses from more than 4,000 victims of the fraud, which has exploded in popularity since the Covid-19 pandemic. With blockchain tracing tools, they tracked the flow of funds from victims to scammers, who are largely based in South-east Asia. Over four years, from January 2020 to February 2024, the criminal networks moved more than US$75 billion to crypto exchanges, said Dr Griffin, who has written about fraud in financial markets. Some of the total could represent proceeds from other criminal activities, he added. "These are large criminal organised networks, and they're operating largely unscathed," Dr Griffin said in an intervie
Pig Butchering Scams Crypto Investments Fraud Stolen Funds Southeast Asia Criminal Networks