They are all so into you: How pig butchering and approval phishing fraud are national security issues.

• In Event: Fraud in digital societies: technological innovations, emerging threats, regulatory tensions, and enforcement challenges

Abstract

Romance scams and cryptocurrency investment fraud are no longer merely financial crimes; they now pose significant national security threats. Two interrelated forms are “pig butchering” fraud—a unique type of cyber-enabled investment and romance scam—and "approval phishing”—a variant of relationship investment fraud that coerces access to digital wallets—that have become increasingly sophisticated. These scams exploit digital trust, utilise mass telemarketing and platform-as-a-service business models, and facilitate large-scale money laundering, cybercrime, and economic interference. Drawing from open-source reporting and secondary research on illicit financial flows, this phenomenological study examines how these frauds undermine national security through social, economic, and geopolitical instability.

This study explores the emergence of pig butchering and approval phishing fraud as hybrid threats. These networks depend on globally dispersed professional enablers and third-party corporate structures, including money services businesses, social media platforms, and web hosting providers, to execute their illicit activities offshore and across multiple jurisdictions. The fraud operations exploit international human trafficking and money laundering networks often orchestrated within Special Economic Zones across ASEAN countries, and leverage guanxi, a culturally embedded social system of implied personal trust and reciprocity within the global Chinese diaspora, to groom victims and exploit digital human trust. Particular attention will be given to the challenges faced from the viewpoints of law enforcement and regulatory oversight authorities of Five Eyes and NATO countries as they combat these schemes. The presentation will address dynamic and institutional issues impacting the effectiveness of current enforcement strategies and emphasise the urgent need for a coordinated, cross-sector response through target hardening and proactive influence countermeasures.

Author

• Ashleigh Burnside, The University of Manchester