Pig slaughter scams cost victims billions of dollars as scams spread globally: ABC News investigation

Shai Plonski thought he had found the perfect woman. He said he sent messages to a woman named “Sandy,” whom he met on a Facebook dating site, thinking she shared his interests in yoga and poetry and lived 30 minutes away from him in Sebastopol, California.

The two exchanged text messages and photos for weeks, until one day Plonski said he shared that his business was struggling after the COVID-19 pandemic. The woman suggested he try investing in cryptocurrency, an area she said she was an expert in, Plonski told ABC News.

“Open your trading account now… and I will guide you step by step to the right position,” Plonski said the woman told him via text message.

At first, Plonski said he invested $200. After he managed to withdraw this money with a 10% return, he continued to invest. Soon, he said he had invested everything he had, that is, all his savings.

“The Crypto Con” airs Thursday, September 5 on ABC News Live “Prime” with Lindsey Davis.

But when Plonski shared the news of his new relationship and investing success with his friends, he didn't get the reaction he expected.

Plonski said his friends showed him an article about a scam known as “pig butchery,” in which scammers groom their victims for months, according to the FBI, and build a level of trust before tricking the victim into investing in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme.

“I read the article and it basically described what was going on,” Plonski told ABC News investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky. “And then, you know, my heart broke.”

Plonski tried to withdraw all of his savings, but a customer service agent told him he had to put down a $10,000 deposit to withdraw his investment. After Sandy told him she couldn't help him, Plonski said he reported his loss to the FBI and cut off all contact with Sandy.

According to the FBI, losses from cryptocurrency investment scams increased from $3 billion in 2022 to $4.5 billion in 2023. In the first six months of 2024, the agency received more than 18,000 complaints reporting cryptocurrency investment scams, with losses of more than $1.9 billion.

“The pig slaughter is one of the most dangerous things going on in the world right now,” said Santa Clara County District Attorney Erin West in California. “We’re seeing victims being forced into a situation where they end up investing in cryptocurrency and losing all their money.”

West, who has been able to recover money from some victims, told ABC News that the scammers have “playbooks.”

“They know exactly how to talk to a 30-year-old software engineer, or a 50-year-old woman with two teenage children, or a 70-year-old man who just lost his wife,” West said.

ABC-owned networks found victims across the country, including in Chicago, where one woman said she lost nearly $1 million.

“I had nothing left and I had to sell everything,” Erika DeMask told WLS-TV.

Officials told ABC News that the scammers are in it for the “long haul” and will text and sometimes FaceTime you for months or even years until the person has lost everything or realizes the investment is a scam.

“We’re seeing people liquidate their 401K plans,” said James Barnacle, a senior FBI official. “We’re seeing them go to a financial institution and borrow money.”

“It’s led to tragic situations here in the United States,” Barnacle added. “Not only are they losing everything, but they’re also choosing to end their lives. It’s just a tragic crime problem.”

Officials, including Barnacle, told ABC News that the crime is not just about victims in the United States.

Fraudulent compounds

An ABC News investigation found that the people sending these text messages may be victims themselves. In parts of Southeast Asia, Africa and South America, at least 200,000 people are believed to be trafficked and forced to target people like Shai, according to the UN.

“What’s really unique about this trend is that it’s a double-edged sword,” said Stephanie Baroud, a criminal intelligence analyst at Interpol. “There are two different groups of victims, those who are being trafficked on one side, and those who are being defrauded of large sums of money on the other. And it’s true that victims on both sides of this trend have had to deal with a lot of repercussions.”

A United Nations report found that “dormitories were built in the compounds, training manuals for scammers were created, agents were hired to monitor trafficking victims, and mass recruitment of trafficking victims began.” The fraudulent compounds are run by organized criminal groups, the UN report said.

ABC News spoke to Sara, a 36-year-old woman who did not want to reveal her real name. Sara, who lives in South Africa, says she was trapped in a scam center in Myanmar for nine months after applying for a customer service job in Thailand.

Sara told ABC News that she was interviewed several times for the job and was even bought a round-trip plane ticket to Thailand by what she believed to be a legitimate company.

“It seemed legit because every time I called them, they answered,” Sara said.

But when Sara arrived in Thailand, she said she was driven in a car for hours and then finally put in a boat with armed men.

“It was really scary, because now, if this is a job, why do we have armed men,” Sara said.

Sara told ABC News she was taken across the border into Myanmar and placed in a fraudulent compound where she was given scripts and multiple phones to send messages to people like Shai.

“A lady said to me, ‘You’re going to be a scammer,’” Sara said. “I said, ‘What do you mean, scammer? Because you said I was going to do a customer service job, I want to go home.’”

Sara was able to leave the compound when another victim who had escaped months earlier helped her pay her ransom.

Authorities told ABC News that criminal groups are becoming more sophisticated and expanding to other parts of the world.

“This trend has become a real global crisis,” Baroud said. “And it's getting worse.”

Officials say awareness is key

As scams increase and crooks use new tools like artificial intelligence to target people for money, West told ABC News that awareness is key to combating the scam.

“We really have to be wary of anyone who comes into our lives without us inviting them,” West said.

“If the message is well-crafted and it comes to you at the right time, you might be surprised how much you can actually fall for it,” Baroud said. “It’s important for any Internet user to be vigilant and really pay attention to any ad they click on, any high-value opportunity they see online.”

For Plonski and Sara, sharing their stories is their way of helping people become aware of this growing scam, they said.

“People are trying to connect, but they don’t know it,” Shai said. “So I thought one way to turn this into something positive was to try to educate and prevent this from happening to other people.”

— ABC News' Jason Knowles of WLS, KGO's Melanie Woodrow and WTVD's Diane Wilson contributed to this report.