Pig Butchering Fraud
Pig Butchering Crypto Scam: 9 Signs the Platform Is Fake
The fake trading platforms used in pig butchering scams look sophisticated and professional. This checklist will tell you within minutes whether the platform you have been shown is real or a carefully designed trap.
Quick answer
How can I tell if a crypto trading platform is a pig butchering scam?
Run through the nine-point checklist below. If three or more apply, treat the platform as fraudulent and do not deposit any further funds. If you have already deposited, do not attempt to pay additional fees — those fees will not unlock your money and represent a second layer of fraud designed to extract additional funds.
The 9-Point Checklist
- You found it through a romantic contact. No legitimate trading platform relies on romantic introductions as its primary acquisition channel. If someone you met on a dating app or social media is your only source for this platform, that alone is the most important warning sign.
- It is not on CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko, or any regulatory register. Every legitimate crypto exchange appears in at least one of these databases. Search the platform name at coinmarketcap.com and check your country's financial regulator register. No listing equals no legitimacy.
- You can only access it via a direct link or an unofficial APK file. Legitimate exchanges are available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. If the platform cannot be found there and requires you to install an unofficial file or access a direct URL provided by your contact, it is designed to avoid scrutiny.
- Profits appear immediately and do not reflect real market movement. Real cryptocurrency markets are volatile. If your portfolio shows consistent gains regardless of market conditions, the numbers are fabricated. The platform has no connection to real blockchain transactions.
- The first withdrawal succeeds; the second does not. A small initial withdrawal is deliberately allowed to build confidence. When you attempt to withdraw a significant amount, new requirements appear — verification, tax prepayment, insurance, or "account upgrade." None of these will ever release real funds.
- Customer support does not respond to independent contact. Send an inquiry from an email address your romantic contact does not know about, asking an operational question about the platform. If support does not respond, or only responds when your contact is copied, it is a scripted operation.
- The company address is unverifiable or belongs to another business. Paste the registered address into Google Street View and Google Maps. A legitimate exchange has real office presence. Pig butchering platforms routinely list addresses of co-working spaces, UPS stores, or non-existent buildings.
- WHOIS shows the domain was registered recently. Go to who.is or lookup.icann.org and enter the platform domain. Domains registered within the past 6 to 18 months for a platform claiming years of operation are a clear fabrication. Scam networks rotate domains regularly as old ones get reported.
- Searching the domain name plus "scam" returns victim reports. Pig butchering victims report platforms publicly on Reddit (r/scams), Scam Detector, FTC complaint databases, and consumer protection forums. A single victim report is significant. Multiple reports are conclusive.
If You Have Already Deposited
Do not pay any additional fees. Every fee is designed to extract more money — it will not unlock your funds. Take these steps instead:
- Preserve all records: screenshots of the platform, chat logs, transaction confirmations, and any wallet addresses you sent funds to.
- Report to the FBI at ic3.gov (US), Action Fraud (UK), or your national cybercrime unit.
- Contact your bank or payment provider immediately if any fiat transfers are involved.
- Commission an identity check on the romantic contact — in many cases, recovering any funds requires identifying the real person or operation behind the scam.