Pig Butchering Crypto Scams Rose By Nearly 33% in 2024: Chainalysis

According to a Feb. 13 report from blockchain data platform Chainalysis, the number of pig butchering crypto scams rose by 33.2% in 2024, contributing significantly to the over $9.9 billion generated by crypto scams.

Pig butchering scams, also known as romance scams, involve targeting and building relationships with individuals before convincing them to invest in fraudulent crypto schemes. According to Chainalysis, most of these schemes originated from scam compounds in Southeast Asia.

Furthermore, pig butchering scammers have begun to employ more diverse strategies with a quicker turnaround to achieve their goals. Rather than employ the pig butchering con, which can take months before a scammer develops a relationship with the target or even receives scam payments, they now opt for employment or work-from-home scams.

One example is a fraudulent job site impersonating a record label offering work-from-home jobs to unsuspecting victims.

“Though employment scam inflows represented less than 1% of total on-chain value that scams received last year, thousands of people unwittingly paid into fake job platforms, and the FBI warned U.S. citizens about these schemes in 2024,” Chainlysis said.

Chainlysis added that the loss number is likely to increase as more fraudulent addresses associated with frauds and scams are discovered throughout the year.