A sudden friendly message from a charming, successful stranger... a seemingly pleasant encounter that could be the beginning of a pig butchering romance scam. In recent years, victims worldwide have lost hundreds of millions of dollars to these scams.

Behind the scammers' glamorous personas lies a dark criminal network: many online fraudsters are actually human trafficking victims, forced to operate scams from prison-like compounds in Southeast Asia.

A BBC International investigation revealed the inner workings of these scam compounds and exclusively interviewed a former scam syndicate boss, who disclosed the various tactics pig butchering scammers use to lure their victims.

A deep, magnetic voice was "Xiao Zui's" proudest asset. Whenever he got on the phone with his target victims, they would listen and hand over their money. Xiao Zui, unwilling to use his real name for the interview, was happy to share his secrets as a former professional swindler.

Scam victims were referred to as "pigs" in his terminology, and his goal was to "fatten the pig" and ultimately "butcher the pig"—meaning building trust and an emotional connection with victims, then guiding them to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms. In the final step, he would drain every last cent from his victims.

The Pig Butchering Script

"No matter how it changes, pig butchering always has one core element: emotion. Through emotion, you can make them trust you," said Xiao Zui, a nearly 30-year-old Chinese national who was rarely without a cigarette in hand. He spoke candidly from a safe house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, wearing fake Gucci pajamas and slippers.

He claimed his fraud team had stolen millions of dollars in recent years, and that he had personally written an entire pig butchering script to teach his underlings how to lure victims step by step.

"During the process, you have to share heart-wrenching stories with the client," Xiao Zui said. "Women instinctively feel sympathy and want to care for you with maternal affection." One of his go-to personas was a self-made, ambitious, gentle corporate executive betrayed by his ex-wife—which won him sympathy and trust from many female victims.