Headline : Stop Calling Online Scams ‘Pig Butchering,’ Interpol Warns

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The rise of so-called pig butchering investment scams over the past few years largely caught the world unawares, capitalizing on conditions surrounding pandemic lockdowns and global economic instability to fool people into giving away their money to attackers. But as researchers and law enforcement have scrambled to raise awareness about the crisis—including scammers’ use of forced labor—any way they can, the term “pig butchering” itself has emerged as an attention-grabbing and recognizable symbol. Because the term was coined by scammers themselves, though, officials from the intergovernmental law enforcement organization Interpol now say that they will stop using it.

The wording originated from a Chinese version of the phrase, shāzhūpán, in which scammers were referring to victims as pigs who were being gradually fattened for slaughter. The attacks are typically investment or romance scams in which attackers cold contact many people at a time and then develop a rapport with those who respond, eventually convincing them to send money, typically in cryptocurrency, to scammers under the guise of making a potentially lucrative investment. Invoking scammers’ derogatory terminology, though, is dehumanizing and further perpetuates the stigma that many scam victims feel about having been deceived. Interpol says that, beyond its own organization, it is encouraging everyone to stop using the term and replace it with more straightforward names like “investment scams” or “romance baiting.”

“‘Pig butchering’ is a phrase which would appear to have been created by the gangs to talk about their victims and how they deal with them,” Nick Court, an assistant director in Interpol’s financial crime and anti-corruption program, tells WIRED. “I think we’re giving the gangs too much credit if we use that phrase. More importantly, we’re damaging how victims may perceive themselves. I don’t think anyone would want to be called a victim of pig butchering.”

Interpol says its web pages, previous press releases, and working materials such as factsheets will be updated to remove the terminology, with prior news announcements on its site including an explanation about the change in terminology. The agency says it has advised the 196 member countries it works with of the change in language too.

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