How 'pig butchering' romance scams siphon millions from Californians every year


It started with a small US$1,000 (RM4,294) cryptocurrency investment, but by the time the Santa Monica-based software developer realised the truth, he’d turned over US$740,000 (RM3.2mil) with no hope of getting it back. He liquidated stocks, emptied his savings and drained his retirement. — Image by 8photo on Freepik

It took two months of near daily conversations, of first cultivating trust and then love, before he walked into her trap.

Two months of phone calls, text messages and video chats. Two months of sharing their life stories and their dreams about the future before he took the bait – an investment opportunity pitched by this woman he had never met.

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