A record year of shattered hearts and emptied wallets

A wave of pig butchering or romance scams is spreading worldwide, with criminals’ revenues soaring nearly by 40%.

2024 has been a record year for digital scammers, with more than $9.9 billion in revenue from cybercrime, according to the newest report by Chainanalysis.

Pig butchering scams, also known as romance scams, were among the most profitable. These scams often involve attackers targeting victims with fake personas and eventually convincing them to invest money on fraudulent platforms.

Romance scams have become so prevalent that researchers have started seeing national security threats associated with them, going so far as to dub them a “global crisis.”

Spreading to other continents

The scam economy has predominantly thrived in Southeast Asia. According to a recent UN report, unregulated crypto exchanges and online casinos in the region have successfully diversified their income to include cyber fraud and other illicit activities.

The UN estimates that criminal gangs have forcibly detained at least 220,000 individuals from over 40 countries in scam centers located in Cambodia and Myanmar alone. However, a slight geographical shift indicates that romance scams have become more dispersed in the past two years.

There have reportedly been scam operations centered on Namibia, Nigeria, and Peru throughout 2024. However, they are still on a smaller scale than those in Southeast Asia.

Nigeria's anti-corruption agency recently announced the arrest of 48 Chinese and 40 Filipino nationals involved in running an investment scam that targeted individuals mostly from Europe and the Americas. The scam operators enlisted Nigerians to find victims online, who were then deceived into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.

A coordinated law enforcement effort led by Interpol attempted to disrupt scam networks around the world. For example, authorities targeted cybercrooks in Namibia, where 88 young people were coerced into participating in scams as part of an international network.

Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities revealed that Peruvian police had rescued 43 Malaysians who had been trafficked to Peru and forced to work in a scam operation.

The International Justice Mission (IJM) reports that while the scale of these operations is not as intense as in Southeast Asia, it shows that the scammer networks are spreading worldwide.

More victims, more revenue

High-yield investment scams (50%) and pig butchering (33%) scams remained the two main means of scams used by cybercriminals in 2024, a recent report by Chainalysis shows.

There’s also a noticeable change in pig butchering scam tactics. Revenue rose by nearly 40%, while the number of deposits made accounts surged by almost 210%, suggesting a possible expansion in the victim pool.

In contrast, the average deposit amount for pig butchering scams fell by 55%. This shows that scammers settle for smaller payments. This could also mean that they can invest less time in convincing the victim.

Work-from-home scams that hook people on fake job platforms have also been on the rise. Attackers particularly like this type of fraud as it enables faster turnarounds.

IJM started noticing WFH scams in mid-2023, where paid social media ads were utilizing the names of legitimate companies. Since then, it seems the tactics have shifted to sending text messages to targets with vague job details, sometimes posing as legitimate job boards.

Once the victim accepts a fake job, they complete tasks and accumulate "payments." To withdraw the money, the victim must pay a "tax" fee, with a lower percentage required for larger withdrawals. This setup leads the victim to lose even more money as they wait to withdraw larger sums.“

These scams are particularly devious because anyone who has put their resume out there and is looking for a job could easily be hooked by these, especially those desperate for work,” says Eric Heintz, global analyst at IJM.

The continued industrialization of the fraud economy is a key factor driving the rise in pig butchering and employment scams.

A key figure in this ecosystem is Huione Guarantee, which sells scam technology solutions to cybercriminals. Last year alone, the company received payments in cryptocurrencies equal to $376 million, according to Chainanalysis.

From 2021 to 2024, revenue for Huione skyrocketed, with AI service vendors seeing a 1,900% increase. This shows a dramatic rise in the use of AI technology for scams.