What is a pig butchering scam and how do I know if I'm in one?

Stop sending money right now. The term 'pig butchering' (sha zhu pan) comes from Chinese organized crime: the scammer 'fattens up' the victim with friendship, romance, or mentorship before the slaughter — taking everything in one final move.

Universal red flags:

• Met on a dating app, social media, or wrong-number text, then moved off-platform to WhatsApp or Telegram.
• They introduce a 'special' trading platform (often a clone of a real exchange) and offer to teach you.
• Initial small withdrawals work, building trust.
• Each time you try a larger withdrawal, you're told to pay 'tax', 'insurance', or 'verification' fees first.
• They never video call, or if they do it's brief and poor quality.

What to do if you recognize yourself:

1. Withdraw nothing more, send nothing more, and don't tell the scammer you've figured it out yet.
2. Screenshot all chats, the platform interface, and every deposit confirmation.
3. Report at ic3.gov (US), actionfraud.police.uk (UK), or your country's equivalent.
4. Get the deposit addresses traced before the operation rotates. Once a pig butchering ring shuts down a campaign, the wallets get drained within days.

You are not stupid. These operations are run by trafficked victims forced to work 18-hour days from scam compounds in Cambodia and Myanmar. The script is industrial.