INTERPOL urges end to 'Pig Butchering' term, cites harm to online victims

Many people are now familiar with the term Pig Butchering, whether from observing the news or from painful personal experience. Based on an original Chinese term used by hackers, the term refers to identifying a potential target, or pig, and “fattening them up”, i.e. luring them into a fake romance or friendship, before convincing them to send them money or participate in some fraudulent investment scheme, which is the so-called “butchering.” Being the victim of such schemes is no doubt emotionally traumatizing, and worse, embarrassing. INTERPOL is concerned that this embarrassment keeps victims from coming forward, and causes great emotional and psychological harm. They may have a point: multiple cases exist where individuals who have been victimized by these scams and lost large sums of money have gone on to take their own lives.

For these reasons and others, INTERPOL has urged a change in terminology regard these con artist schemes. Rather than referring to them as Pig Butchering, which shames the victim by referring to them as a pig, the agency now prefers the more neutral term “romance baiting.” In a public statement, INTERPOL Acting Executive Director of Police Services Cyril Gout said that choice of words can have a significant effect in the reporting of crimes. Romance baiting has many elements in common with crimes such as sexual abuse, domestic abuse, or online child exploitation that make it harder for victims to come forward. By changing terminology to focus more on the fraudsters and encouraging people to come forward without shame, it becomes more likely that these crimes can be brought home to their culprits. This change in terminology is part of INTERPOL’s Think Twice campaign, intended to raise awareness about major online threats such as ransomware, malware, phishing, AI fraud, and romance baiting.

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