You have heard of the Nigerian prince scam, but you probably do not associate the term “pig butchering” with investment fraud. Like a hog fattened before the slaughter, perpetrators of these scams slowly build trust with their targets before “butchering” them with a final fraud and walking away with the victim’s hard-earned money.
The Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner, a division of the Kansas Insurance Department, warns that pig butchering scams are one of fastest-growing investment frauds in the United States. According to the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center, investment fraud, including pig butchering scams, totaled $3.31 billion in reported losses in 2022.
