Fake it till you make it: the psychological and communication tactics behind “Pig Butchering” scams

Abstract “Pig butchering” represents a sophisticated form of cyber-enabled social engineering that combines elements of romance and investment scams. Although existing literature focuses on victims’ experiences, there is a lack of understanding regarding how scammers are trained to implement these strategies. To this end, we analysed a unique data source, scam manuals (i.e. documents guiding scam operations), to uncover the psychological and communication theories that inform their use. Our findings reveal that scammers systematically exploit interpersonal communication, relationship, and motivational tactics to gain victims’ trust and commitment, and to manipulate their self-growth needs. We propose a unified stage model that maps and links psychological and communication theories across the scam stages. We discuss how our model contributes to the broader cybersecurity literature by informing the design of more targeted prevention and intervention strategies that address the human vulnerabilities exploited in advanced cyber-enabled crime.