US Officials Warn of Pig-Butchering Scams Ahead of Valentine’s Day

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As Valentine’s Day approaches, officials in the United States have cautioned the public to be wary of “pig-butchering” romance scams that blend emotional manipulation with fraud. This follows a known pattern of increased levels of fraud around major holidays and celebrations. 

Prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio issued an alert urging the public to stay vigilant against criminals who exploit online relationships for financial gain.

In many cases, scammers build trust with their victims over weeks or even months on dating apps or social media platforms before moving conversations onto encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp or Telegram. 

Once trust has been established, the criminal then asks for money, typically pressuring the victim to send funds in cryptocurrency, gift cards, or wire transfers. Reasons for asking for money may include medical emergencies, travel expenses, or investment opportunities. 

These “investment opportunities” can be on spoofed cryptocurrency trading platforms, and may initially pay out small sums to encourage the victim to make larger and larger deposits. Many pig-butchering scams are conducted by large international fraud compounds using forced labor in Southeast Asia. 

Victims are alleged to have been lured to these compounds and forced to defraud targets around the world. These operations are believed to have defrauded victims worldwide of tens of billions of dollars.  

US Attorney David M. Toepfer warned:

Romance scammers are not looking for love—they are looking for money. They prey on trust and emotion and often target older Americans and vulnerable individuals. We urge everyone to slow down, verify identities, and never send money to someone they have not met in person.