Last year I used Tinder to investigate romance scammers tugging at the purse strings of besotted would-be partners. After publishing the findings, a Hong Kong woman offered to help victims reclaim lost monies. What happened next was sad and exhausting.
ShaZhuPan
A scam originating in East Asia and mainly targeting the Chinese diaspora both domestically and overseas. Known as "pig-butchering", victims are often lured into fictitious online relationships through dating and social media platforms where they are tricked into sending money to the fraudster as part of a bogus investment opportunity.
During COVID lockdowns worldwide, the phenomenon of pig butchering spread to most continents and has accounted for hundreds of millions of stolen dollars.