Social Engineering & Pig Butchering

What you'll learn

• Sha Zhu Pan: The Pig Butchering Model
• The Trafficked Compounds in Southeast Asia
• FOMO, Urgency, and Manufactured Authority
• Why Older Adults Are Disproportionately Targeted
• Recognizing the Script

Key terms

Pig butchering (sha zhu pan)

A long-running romance and investment scam that "fattens" victims with relationship-building before extracting funds. FBI IC3 data shows 2.57 billion dollars in losses in 2022 (+183 percent YoY) and 3.96 billion dollars in 2023 (+53 percent).

Sha zhu pan

Mandarin for "pig-killing plate," the term used by Chinese-speaking scam networks for the pig-butchering investment fraud playbook.

Scam compounds

Industrial fraud operations in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. UN data indicates more than 200,000 trafficked workers; OFAC has sanctioned specific sites including the O-Smach Resort and Koh Kong Resort.

OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control)

The U.S. Treasury division that enforces economic sanctions. OFAC has sanctioned specific compounds and crypto addresses linked to pig-butchering and Lazarus Group operations.

FOMO manipulation

Engineered urgency — countdown timers, limited whitelists, "presale closing today" — designed to short-circuit deliberation. Defense: a personal 48-hour cool-off period for investments above a personal threshold.

Authority impersonation

Calls or messages claiming to be from the IRS, Microsoft, an exchange security team, or law enforcement, demanding crypto payment or seed phrase disclosure. None of these agencies operate this way.

AARP Fraud Watch Network

A free service for older adults and their families with a helpline at 1-877-908-3360 staffed by trained volunteers who can discuss suspected scams in real time.

Trust-building withdrawal

A small successful withdrawal that scammers permit early in the script to convince the victim the platform is real. The pattern holds until deposits scale, after which withdrawals are blocked.