Pig-butchering scam — how to recover your money.

Pig-butchering is one of the cruellest frauds operating in the UK today. It combines a fake romantic relationship with a fake investment platform, and it is designed to make you feel safe, even lucky, before everything disappears. If you have been through this, you are not alone — and the law is now firmly on your side.

Can I get my money back from a pig-butchering scam?

Yes, in many cases. If you made bank transfers from a UK account, the PSR Mandatory Reimbursement Scheme (in force since 7 October 2024) requires your sending bank to refund you up to £85,000 unless it can prove gross negligence on your part. Being deceived by a sophisticated, months-long romance and investment fraud is not gross negligence. If your bank refuses, the Financial Ombudsman Service can order a refund.

What if I used a cryptocurrency exchange rather than a bank transfer?

Crypto-to-crypto transactions are not covered by the PSR scheme. However, if you funded your crypto wallet via a UK bank transfer to the exchange, that transfer may be claimable. If you used a debit or credit card to buy crypto that was then stolen, you may have a chargeback claim (debit) or a Section 75 Consumer Credit Act 1974 claim (credit card, £100–£30,000). The detail of each payment method matters enormously.

I was in a relationship with this person for months. Will the bank take me seriously?

The length of the grooming period is evidence in your favour, not against you. A months-long, sophisticated deception makes it harder for the bank to argue that you should have known better. Action Fraud and UK Finance both recognise pig-butchering as a distinct and particularly manipulative fraud type. Document the relationship timeline and the progression of the investment ask — it strengthens your case considerably.

The scammer told me withdrawals were taxed and I paid additional fees. Can I claim those too?

"Advance fee" top-up payments — fake taxes, withdrawal fees, compliance charges — are themselves separate APP fraud payments and can each be included in your claim, subject to the overall £85,000 cap per PSR scheme. The 13-month reporting window runs from the date of the last payment, not the first, so even a long series of payments may all be in scope.

Will my bank blame me for ignoring warnings?

Banks sometimes cite generic in-app fraud warnings as evidence of gross negligence. The PSR guidance explicitly states that a generic warning is not sufficient; the warning must have been specific, prominent, and directly relevant to this type of fraud. Most pig-butchering victims receive no specific warning whatsoever. If you were shown a warning, note exactly what it said and when — specificity matters.

What if the police say they cannot recover the money?

Your refund from the bank under the PSR scheme is entirely separate from police recovery. The bank must reimburse you regardless of whether the funds can be traced or recovered. Report to Action Fraud (actionfraud.police.uk) for a crime reference number — you need that number for your bank claim — but do not wait for a police outcome before pursuing the bank.

Scam Refund · Scam Types

Pig-butchering scam — how to recover your money.

What pig-butchering actually is

The name comes from a Chinese phrase —

(“killing the pig”) — coined by the criminal networks that run these operations, most of which originate from South-East Asian fraud compounds. The “pig” is you. The “fattening” is the weeks or months of trust-building that come before the financial slaughter.

These are not impulsive scams. They are sophisticated, scripted operations run by organised criminal networks that invest heavily in grooming. UK Finance data suggests that romance-linked investment fraud losses run into tens of millions of pounds annually in the UK alone. The average individual loss is substantial — often between £10,000 and £150,000 — because the scam is calibrated to what each victim can realistically afford to invest.

How the scam unfolds

Pig-butchering follows a recognisable pattern, though the specifics are tailored to each victim:

• You receive a message that appears to be a wrong number, a connection request on LinkedIn, or a match on a dating app. The person is attractive, well-presented, and immediately warm. Early conversations are flattering but never pushy.
• Relationship-building.
• Over days or weeks, you exchange messages daily. The scammer is interested in your life, shares details of their own (usually a successful career — often finance, property, or medical), and builds genuine emotional intimacy. There is no mention of investment. The goal at this stage is trust.
• The platform reveal.
• The scammer mentions, almost incidentally, that they trade crypto in their spare time and have done well from it. They show you screenshots of returns. They offer to help you invest a small amount — just to see. They introduce you to a platform, usually a sophisticated-looking fake exchange with a legitimate-sounding name, live price charts, and a plausible interface.
• Your first deposit grows quickly. You can see the balance on the platform. You may even be allowed to withdraw a small amount to prove the platform is “real”. This is controlled entirely by the scammers, who are showing you exactly what they want you to see.
• You are encouraged to invest more. Your balance grows. Your new friend may invest alongside you, sometimes sharing a screen to show you their own account. Urgency is introduced — a time-limited return, a market window. The sums involved increase steadily.
• When you attempt to withdraw a significant amount, problems appear: a tax payment required, a compliance fee, an account freeze. You pay to unfreeze it. The problems multiply. Eventually, contact ceases, the platform disappears, and the money is gone.

Red flags to recognise

• A stranger contacts you via a ‘wrong number’ message or unexpected social media connection.
• The person is unusually attractive, speaks excellent English, and mentions a lucrative career in finance, tech, or medicine.
• Conversations move quickly to WhatsApp or Telegram.
• Investment is suggested only after a period of relationship-building — it is never the opening move.
• The trading platform is one you have never heard of and cannot find on the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk.
• Your balance grows faster than any legitimate investment could.
• Withdrawals are always blocked by a new fee or a compliance requirement.
• You are asked to pay “tax” or “release fees” before you can access your own money.

What to do in the first 24 hours

Speed matters, but not for the reason you might think. The PSR scheme gives you 13 months from the last payment, so the window is generous. What the first 24 hours is about is evidence preservation and stopping further harm.

• Stop all further payments.
• Do not pay any “release fee” or “withdrawal tax” you are asked for. Every payment is a new loss.
• Preserve all evidence.
• Screenshot every conversation, the platform interface, your account balance, transaction confirmations, and any emails. Export WhatsApp chat history. Do not delete anything, and do not tell the scammer you know it is a scam.
• Contact your bank immediately.
• Call the fraud team and report the payments as APP fraud. Ask them to attempt a recall on any recent transfers. Give them a clear timeline of the payments.
• Report to Action Fraud
• at actionfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040. You will receive a crime reference number, which you need for your bank claim.
• Check the FCA Warning List
• at register.fca.org.uk/s/fca-unauthorised. Report the platform if it is not there.
• Do not speak to anyone who claims to be a ‘recovery agent’.
• Recovery fraud, where a second scammer targets pig-butchering victims promising to retrieve their money for an upfront fee, is widespread.

The legal refund pathway

Pig-butchering payments are Authorised Push Payments (APP fraud) — you sent the money, but the authorisation was procured by deception. That places them squarely within the PSR Mandatory Reimbursement Scheme, which came into force on 7 October 2024 under the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013.

Under the scheme, your sending bank must reimburse you up to

per claim if the payment was sent via Faster Payments or CHAPS to a UK account. The bank has five working days to refund or provide a substantive response. If it refuses, it must send a

final response letter

under FCA DISP rules within eight weeks.

A standard non-vulnerable consumer pays a

. Vulnerable consumers — those experiencing financial difficulty, mental health issues, or significant life events — cannot be charged this excess and cannot be denied a refund on gross-negligence grounds at all.

If you paid by credit card (for example to fund a crypto wallet), Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives you a parallel claim against your credit card issuer for purchases between £100 and £30,000 where the supplier (in this case the fake platform or exchange) has misrepresented the product or service.

The Limitation Act 1980 section 5 gives you six years from the date of the loss to bring a civil claim, but the PSR scheme’s 13-month window is much shorter and should be treated as the operative deadline.

Timelines you need to know

• Report to your bank and to Action Fraud.
• Within 5 working days:
• Bank must refund you or explain in writing why it will not.
• Bank must send a ‘final response’ letter under FCA DISP rules.
• Within 6 months of the final response:
• You must escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if unsatisfied.
• Within 13 months of the last payment:
• You must bring your claim to the bank under the PSR scheme.

What banks say to refuse — and how to push back

Pig-butchering victims face a specific set of bank refusal arguments. Each one can be challenged:

“You ignored our fraud warnings.”

Ask the bank to identify the

warning, its exact wording, the date and time shown, and why it was specifically relevant to pig-butchering fraud. Generic “be aware of scams” messages are not sufficient under PSR guidance. The bank must show the warning was tailored, prominent, and specific to this fraud type.

“You consented to the payments voluntarily.”

Consent procured by deception is not valid consent. The entire point of the PSR scheme is that even ‘authorised’ payments are refundable when authorisation was obtained through fraud. This argument reflects the pre-October 2024 legal position, not the current one.

“You made multiple payments over several months, which shows recklessness.”

Sustained engagement is a feature of pig-butchering fraud, not a mark of negligence. The scam is specifically designed to build trust incrementally. The FOS has upheld claims by victims who made dozens of payments over many months, recognising the psychological sophistication of the fraud.

“We have no evidence this was fraud.”

Provide your evidence bundle: chat logs, platform screenshots, transaction records, the Action Fraud crime reference number, and a timeline. You do not have to prove the fraud beyond reasonable doubt — that is a criminal standard. The civil standard (balance of probabilities) applies at the FOS.

Escalating to the Financial Ombudsman Service

If your bank sends a final response letter refusing your claim, you have six months to escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS is free, independent, and applies a “fair and reasonable” standard that is not bound by the bank’s own reasoning. FOS decisions are binding on the bank if you accept them. The FOS can order full reimbursement, interest at 8% simple per year from the date of loss, and compensation for distress and inconvenience.

The FOS has a strong track record in complex investment fraud cases. The uphold rate for APP fraud complaints at the FOS was around 60% in 2024 — meaning most victims who escalate to the FOS after a bank refusal ultimately receive at least a partial refund.

You are not to blame

Pig-butchering victims often feel profound shame — about the romantic relationship, about the financial loss, about having trusted someone so completely. Please set that feeling aside for the purpose of this process. The PSR scheme was designed with exactly this type of fraud in mind. The scam works because it is sophisticated, emotionally calibrated, and built on the normal human need for connection. These are not failures of intelligence. They are the intended result of a professionalised criminal operation.

. If the romance element was the primary hook, you may also find our guide to

useful. For the crypto dimension, see our guide to

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Not legal advice. This guide is for general information only. For advice specific to your circumstances, consult a regulated legal professional or contact Citizens Advice.