I thought this paragraph was a quote of the scammer's message to the victim, but incorrectly formatted in the article...

Well, StartEngine, you're getting the opposite of advertisement.

Indeed. Everything internet is a pig butchering scam. MBAs and tech entrepreneurs have ruined the what was supposed to be an information superhighway.

I wonder how persuasive this "Ancel Mali" can be. I guess with a known weakness (desire for connection) the scammer can game the victim by emotionally manipulating them, e.g. maybe he told her he gets an x% refer-a-friend bonus if she "invested" on this seemingly 3rd party site, "Why haven't you done it yet? It's not you giving me money, it's this site! Besides you'll get a high ROI quickly! Don't you love me?!", and playing a hot and cold game of being nice some days and then ignoring her other days, because "you still haven't invested!".

I suppose a lot of people are good at this kind of manipulation, e.g. members of cults like Scientology...

The scammers play into longing for easy money and a fantasy of jet-setting life.

I got contacted by a scammer via text message and trolled them for many days before tipping my hand. It was a very slick and sophisticated soft sell, a continuous invitation to ask the scammer about the opportunity to get in on their supposed inside tips and big wins.

It never ceases to amaze me how callous people can be. Do you also blame rape victims because they were asking for it?

I keep a fair amount of cash in a bank account whose managers I've never met, and I'm not even lonely!

I don't get it?

The latest report lacks this information, but the 2010 FBI report has this to say.

> The gender gap in crime reporting has dramatically narrowed. Early in IC3’s history, men reported crime at a ratio of more than 2.5 to 1 over women. Today, men and women report crimes almost equally. In many states, a slightly higher proportion of women than men report crimes to IC3. The narrowed reporting gap between the sexes has significantly impacted the dollar loss between men and women over the last 10 years. During the course of IC3’s early history, men reported a loss of more than $2.00 for every $1.00 reported by a woman. According to the 2010 data, men now report a loss of $1.25 for every $1.00 reported by a woman. [0]

The SCMP[1] and this non-profit[2] say a majority of victim are women.

[0] https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2010_IC3Report.pd...

[1] https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/arti...

[2] https://www.globalantiscam.org/post/update-statistics-of-peo...

It comes from a Chinese analogy/metaphor. First you feed the pig to fatten it up, then when you're ready you butcher it.

Pig butchers will often spend weeks or months building up trust in a specific victim without even hinting at money.