Victim Learns She Fell for $1 Million Pig-Butchering Scam After Asking ChatGPT

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An elderly widow from San Jose, California, was conned out of nearly $1 million after falling victim to an increasingly common pig-butchering scam, exploiting her desire to establish a new romantic relationship. The victim only realized what had happened after asking ChatGPT for advice.

The victim had been connected with a self-described wealthy businessman on Facebook last May. Their relationship quickly deepened and moved to daily affectionate and romantic messages. 

After establishing trust, the fraudster started giving financial advice and encouraged the victim to invest large sums of money in fake cryptocurrency. Eventually, the fraudster convinced her to wire funds from her retirement account and a second mortgage into what appeared to be a legitimate cryptocurrency investment platform.

The victim was sent screenshots that showed her investment growing, which is a common strategy in pig-butchering scams, so named because they use social engineering to “fatten” up victims before “butchering” them. 

However, when the victim’s illegitimate cryptocurrency account was “frozen,” the fraudster demanded an additional $1 million to unlock the funds, which prompted the victim to question the scheme. She then consulted ChatGPT, which told her the details matched known scams, and urged her to alert the police.

The funds had been transferred through accounts in Malaysia, where scammers withdrew the money. Recovering funds from pig-butchering schemes is very rare after the money leaves US banks.

While the case indicates the scale of both the cruelty and volume of pig-butchering scams, it also shows AI can be used to help the public understand the red flags of these schemes.