Interpol has called on industry commentators to rethink their use of the term “pig butchering,” arguing that it unnecessarily stigmatizes victims and potentially discourages incident reporting.
The cybercrime to which the term refers was recently called out in the policing group’s new “Think Twice” campaign, designed to educate consumers about cyber-enabled financial crimes.
Victims are often approached on romance sites, where a scammer will try to build an online relationship with them – metaphorically akin to pigs being fattened up before their slaughter.
Once the victim has grown to trust the fraudster, the latter will suggest that they invest in a fake crypto scheme or another legitimate-seeming opportunity. By the time they get wise to the fraud, it is too late and the scammer cuts all contact.
Read more on pig butchering: Surge in New Scams as Pig Butchering Dominates
The term is a translation of the Chinese word “shazhupan,” which roughly equates to “killing pig game.” However, Interpol issued a statement this week arguing that “romance baiting” would be more appropriate.
It said that likening victims to farmyard animals ready for the kill dehumanizes and shames them to the point where many may be discouraged from coming forward about incidents.
By contrast, “romance baiting” puts the spotlight back on the perpetrators and the often-sophisticated methods they use to emotionally manipulate their victims, Interpol argued.
Time for Change
“Words matter. We’ve seen this in the areas of violent sexual offences, domestic abuse, and online child exploitation. We need to recognize that our words also matter to the victims of fraud,” said Interpol acting executive director of police services, Cyril Gout.
“It’s time to change our language to prioritize respect and empathy for the victims, and to hold fraudsters accountable for their crimes.”
His words were echoed by Elisabeth Carter, associate professor of criminology and forensic linguist at Kingston University London.
“Academic research clearly shows the links between the tactics of fraudsters and of perpetrators of domestic abuse and coercive control,” she argued. “It is imperative that we do not adopt the terminology of these criminals but instead use terms that assist public protection and support victim reporting.”
Romance baiting is not yet broken out as a separate category by the FBI, although investment fraud was the highest earner for cybercriminals last year, making them over $4.5bn. The romance and confidence fraud category resulted in victim losses of over $652m.
Editor’s note: Based on Interpol’s recommendation Infosecurity Magazine will revise its editorial policy to reflect the new terminology “romance baiting”. We may still refer to the term “pig butchering” to avoid confusion while the new moniker becomes part of the cybersecurity vernacular.