Tricking people out of their money by maintaining a dialog with them over time to establish a friendship or flirtation. The pig butchering term comes from fattening pigs before slaughtering, which takes several months.
The pig butcher contacts unsuspecting people via text, email, social media or dating sites and, over time, tries to gain the confidence of the person they want to scam. Eventually, the targets are tricked into paying for something after which the scammer disappears.
In 2024, INTERPOL called for a change in language, claiming that pig butchering shames the victims of these frauds and the term should be called "romance baiting." See
Ponzi scheme,
exit scam and
NFT rug pull.