Sha Zhu Pan: The Pig Butchering Scam

I want to raise awareness on the Pig-Butchering scam or Sha Zhu Pan in Chinese. So called because victims are patiently worked on every day for 1-3 months before scamming them big time, like fattening up a pig before slaughter. They have extremely well-planned operations and have really been successful in the Chinese-speaking world. Sha Zhu Pan scam has become one of the top Chinese buzzwords in 2019-2020.

Victims are scammed on average $24k, and millions in total have been lost. It's a huge cottage industry that Chinese police has had a hard time stamping out. There are scores of recent news stories, blogs, video clips, and other media online about Sha Zhu Pan victims and scammers. Sadly, almost all are in Chinese. I think the rest of the world has to wise up to this, because now as most Chinese are becoming aware of this Pig-Butchering Scam, the scammers are turning their skills more towards non-Chinese, more so this year.

This first half is somewhat detailed because since everyone is generally aware of romance scams, being vague won't convince someone who is in the thick of it and thinks that his/her online friend is THE exception. Exposing specific details of the Pig-Butchering scam is most convincing to current victims that the "spontaneous" events are actually planned.

Baiting Tactics of the Sha Zhu Pan scammers

• Greets you "good morning" and "good night" every day
• Always asks/share pictures of food. Their "home-cooked" food looks restaurant quality.
• Are sole owners of beauty salons/restaurants/hospitals/apartments/businesses etc.
• Casually talks about spending tens and hundreds of thousands of US dollars like no big deal (makes you feel small).
• Typically, by the 2nd-3rd week of talking every day, brings up an investment or trading website.
• Studied finance or accounting, and have an uncle/aunt/brother/professor who taught them Forex/Crypto trading.
• Talks a lot about fate and destiny.
• Asks what are your material goals and dreams, and says you're not dreaming big.
• Trade on irregular schedules, based on a day's "data"/candlestick charts/insider info. Sometimes they tell you "tomorrow's data is not good, I'll just go by myself", sometimes "today is a go!" (All this intrigues you).
• Laughs at how "small" your investment is; it's too small to make an investment plan for you.
• When some event causes huge losses for both you and the guy/girl, he/she suggests you borrow from the website to quickly make up.
• When you're compelled by the website to pay some ridiculous amount, the guy/girl offers to "help" you pay half or so (some pay only up to half, because they reason it's only right that you should take more responsibility for your own investment).
• You never see their money though because they pay directly to your "account".
• Guilt trips you, blames you, gaslights you, flip out easily, shames your manhood/adulting skills/commitment to relationship, accuses you of character defects, anything that hits home.
• Always have an excuse for not wanting to meet up or do video chat citing bad experience with exes, pandemic, etc. Actually, they really can't. They're not where you think they are.

Common Elements of the Scam

• Highly responsive "customer service" online or on WhatsApp, available to chat 24/7. They are always oh so courteous and never break character, no matter how much verbal abuse you dish.
• When you've put <$1000, you can take your money and earnings in and out.
• Offers large bonuses if you invest 30-100% more by a certain date soon (like this weekend).
• Once you put in substantial amounts of money, then the slaughter begins! You'll never be able to take anything out ever again!
• To pay back "reserve loans", "taxes", "verification fees", anything, you have to pay from outside; they cannot be deducted from your "account" inside (they never say so beforehand).
• Your "account" gets frozen for defaulting on loans, not passing verification, whatever. You have to pay in 7 days before they start deducting 10% every day from your investment and "earnings".
• One time you send a large payment, they hurriedly tell you to please reverse it --you sent to wrong/retired address!!! They "escalate" the matter to upper levels. After an excruciating wait, customer service gets back to you that, unfortunately, your money couldn't be found, but out of kindness, you only have to pay 70% of the remaining balance and the company will write 30% off as their loss.
• Even if you pay everything, they'll keep coming up with reasons to prevent withdrawals. But your investment inside has already doubled! So you can't give up... and they'll never run out of excuses

Just How Well Organised is It?

When I said well-planned operation, everything has been scripted and tailored to your stereotype. Whether you are a:

• new college grad who never had a relationship,
• a lonely urban professional,
• a middle-aged recently divorced doctor,

They have scripts for all that!

Generally, if you're a man, the girl shows lots of sexy or pretty pictures but act cold to you. If you're a woman, the guy constantly showers you with corny cliches and sweet nothings. Even the time to call you cute names is planned (2nd week)! They're experts at making you think you're making all the choices and "mistakes".

Maybe you weren't greedy for money initially, but they have their ways to make that come out of you.

Not a Small Outfit

• They're not some small outfit but a sophisticated corporate operation.
• They have head offices and branch locations.
• They have division of labor: there are IT/telecom people, money people, and "hosts" who raise the "pigs".
• They are salaried, have time-offs and hosts get 20-40% commissions for successful slaughters.

New recruits, hosts, undergo some psychological training. Actually, it's brainwashing. Pigs are the people being prepared for scamming. They even have training manuals that they update often. It guides them on:

• How to create their fake character,
• What personal things are can work in the scammer profile like hobbies, favorite music,
• How to plan their sob story,
• Which emotions & personal stories can be kept real.

Employees are treated harshly. Those who don't make enough are fired and made to reimburse tickets, food and living expenses.

The Sha Zhu Pan scam industry is thriving so much that there are dedicated markets for creating and trading successful fake dating profiles, complete with pictures and social media history. Some pictures are pirated, but recently they are creating pictures in-house with professional equipment, with expensive (looking) clothing and props. Hence pictures can't be reverse image searched.

Recruits are from China, reeled in by advertisements for an "online shopping job", and also by friends of friends. They also earn income from Multi-Level Marketing style recruiting. Many of these operations have relocated to South East Asia.

Sources

Chinese police have raided some of these syndicates. There are former employees that have revealed some of the inner workings. All in-depth reports on the Sha Zhu Pan scam are in Chinese, unfortunately. I also have first-hand experience, which prompted me to look these all up. I can't post links here to recent Chinese news articles, blogs, news, news clippings, interviews but you can Google or find on YouTube many such on "Sha Zhu Pan".

 

This article was originally published by u/cannabiccino on Reddit.