The Finance Complaint List, a global consumer-fraud reporting and monitoring organization, has issued an urgent warning to the public as so-called “pig-butchering” romance scams reach what investigators now estimate to be at least $75 billion in global losses since 2020.
These schemes, which combine romance fraud with fake cryptocurrency investing, are among the most destructive financial crimes of the digital age, leaving victims not only bankrupt but emotionally traumatized after months of carefully manufactured relationships.
Finance Complaint List is actively assisting victims in documenting and reporting fraudulent activity through its online platform, www.financecomplaintlist.com, which serves as a public database for scam alerts, verified complaints, and educational resources.
Pig-butchering scams work by slowly “fattening” a victim emotionally and financially before taking everything. Criminals initiate contact through dating apps, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, text messages, and even accidental “wrong number” messages. Over weeks or months, scammers pose as romantic partners or close friends, building trust through daily conversations, affectionate messages, and detailed personal stories.
Once emotional dependence is established, the scammer introduces what appears to be a private, insider crypto-investment opportunity. Victims are guided to convert real money into cryptocurrency using legitimate exchanges or ATMs, then transfer those funds to fraudulent trading platforms controlled entirely by the criminals. These fake platforms display artificial profits and rising balances to convince victims that their money is growing.
In reality, the funds are gone the moment they are transferred.
Billions Lost in a Single Year
According to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), cryptocurrency investment fraud caused more than $5.8 billion in reported losses in 2024 alone. That figure is part of a dramatic upward trend: Americans lost $4 billion in 2023, up from $2.57 billion in 2022, and $3.9 billion of that 2023 total was tied directly to crypto investment fraud.
Law-enforcement officials say these numbers are likely understated, because many victims never report the crime or are too embarrassed to disclose the full extent of their losses.
The IRS has also issued warnings noting that individual losses frequently reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some victims losing as much as $2 million.
A Global Crime Network Built on Human Trafficking
Behind these scams are highly organized transnational crime syndicates, many operating out of Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and other parts of Southeast Asia. Investigators estimate that more than 220,000 people have been trafficked into forced-labor scam compounds, where they are compelled to run these romance-investment operations under threat of violence.
Workers are often beaten, imprisoned, or sold to other compounds if they fail to extract enough money from victims.
Recent arrests of two alleged ringleaders in Cambodia triggered a massive shake-up across the industry, resulting in thousands of trafficked workers being released from scam compounds. Authorities say the crackdown confirms what victims have long suspected: pig-butchering is not the work of isolated criminals but a global criminal enterprise.
How the Money Disappears
Once funds are sent, they are quickly laundered through complex webs of digital wallets, blockchains, and exchanges, making recovery extremely difficult.
One documented case showed a single victim’s $1 million being split into 15 transactions routed through 11 different exchanges. Research has found that 75 percent of wallets associated with pig-butchering scams show signs of on-chain money laundering, often using multiple intermediary wallets across jurisdictions.
In a high-profile federal case, Jingliang Su, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty to conspiracy for running scam centers in Cambodia that defrauded 174 U.S. victims out of approximately $37 million. The money was routed from U.S. banks to the Bahamas, converted into USDT stablecoins, and then transferred into digital wallets controlled in Cambodia.
Life-Saving Stories from the Victims
The emotional devastation is often as severe as the financial loss.
An elderly widow in San Jose, California, believed she had found love with a man named “Ed” on Facebook and WhatsApp. He sent her daily messages, called her “honey,” and promised a future together. He guided her into a crypto trading platform that showed her account growing from $15,000 to tens of thousands of dollars in seconds.
Trusting him, she withdrew $120,000 from her IRA, then $490,000, and eventually another $62,000. When she was told she had to add another $1 million to unlock her account, she realized something was wrong. By then, nearly $1 million was gone, and she now faces a massive tax bill from draining her retirement account.
A retired businessman in Brentwood, California, grieving the death of his wife of 35 years, was targeted by a woman calling herself “Tina.” Over months of affectionate messages, photos, and talk of future plans, she convinced him to invest in what appeared to be a legitimate crypto trading platform. He ultimately transferred $1 million from his IRA, watching his account seemingly grow to $2.4 million on screen.
When he tried to withdraw it, the funds were gone. He now faces the prospect of selling the home he built with his late wife and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes on money that no longer exists.
In New Jersey, Joe Novak, a father caring for a child with celiac disease, was approached on Facebook by a woman who expressed sympathy and friendship. Their conversations turned romantic, then financial. Trusting both her and a website showing rising crypto balances, Novak transferred $280,000, nearly his entire life savings.
“I lost everything. I lost my kids’ future. I lost my future,” Novak told reporters.
Recovery Scams Target Victims Again
Finance Complaint List also warns of a growing wave of “recovery scams.” After victims realize they have been defrauded, criminals posing as lawyers, government agents, or crypto recovery firms contact them, promising to retrieve lost funds, for an upfront fee. These secondary scams often extract thousands more dollars from people who are already financially and emotionally devastated.
Law-Enforcement Breakthroughs Offer Some Hope
Since 2024, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina have seized more than $15 million on behalf of pig-butchering victims.
Among those recoveries:
- $2.6 million returned to victims, including a 61-year-old man in Spring Hope and a 50-year-old man in Raleigh, both targeted through WhatsApp romance scams
- $4.99 million seized for multiple victims, including a 67-year-old man from Angier, who believed he was in a romantic relationship with the scammer
These seizures demonstrate that some funds can be recovered, especially when fraud is reported quickly.
A Crisis That Continues to Grow
With more than 3,200 crypto-investment fraud complaints filed each month in the United States alone, pig-butchering scams show no signs of slowing. Victims typically fall between ages 30 and 60, are tech-savvy, and are often actively seeking financial or romantic connections online.
“These scammers are professionals,” Finance Complaint List warns. “This is their full-time job, and they are extremely skilled at manipulating human emotion and financial behavior.”
How the Public Can Protect Itself
Finance Complaint List urges consumers to be alert to the warning signs:
- Be wary of online romantic partners who offer investment advice
- Be skeptical of high-return, low-risk financial promises
- Never invest money through platforms recommended by someone you have never met in person
- Avoid requests to move money from your bank into crypto for “private” investment opportunities
- Do not pay fees to “unlock” or “release” supposed profits
- Immediately report suspected fraud to law enforcement
Victims are encouraged to contact local police, the FBI, the FTC, and financial regulators as soon as possible.
As pig-butchering scams cross the $75 billion global damage threshold, Finance Complaint List says the crisis has become one of the largest and most emotionally destructive financial crime waves in modern history; one built not only on digital deception, but on exploiting loneliness, trust, and human connection.
The warning is clear: if a stranger you met online is promising love, wealth, and secret investment opportunities, the only thing growing may be the size of the scam.
Victims of the scams listed above are encouraged to file reports by contacting:
support@financecomplaintlist.com
For updates, follow Finance Complaint List on social media.
X (Twitter): https://x.com/financecomplain
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@financecomplaintlist
About Finance Complaint List
Finance Complaint List is a financial fraud awareness and investor protection platform headquartered in New York City. The organization enables individuals to file, track, and review complaints involving financial misconduct, investment fraud, and digital scams. By maintaining a transparent, publicly accessible database, Finance Complaint List helps consumers identify risks and avoid fraudulent schemes.
Disclaimer:Finance Complaint List is not a law enforcement agency. All reports are subject to verification and should also be filed with appropriate authorities such as the FBI, SEC, FTC, or IC3.gov.
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Insta Daily News journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.