Crime · Chinese-speaking criminal networks; operations across Southeast Asia
Romance baiting
In plain English
Long-duration relationship fraud in which a victim is cultivated over weeks or months and then induced into a fraudulent investment. The Chinese name is the perpetrators' own, and it describes the victim as livestock being fattened. Variants exist for other animals.
Register
Subjects' own term. The subjects' own vocabulary. Useful for recognition; not a neutral description.
Literally
Pig-butchering plate — from 養豬 (fattening the pig) then 殺 (slaughter).
What English gets wrong
The English calque "pig butchering" is contested, and this is a live split rather than a settled question. INTERPOL called publicly in December 2024 for the phrase to be dropped, arguing that it dehumanises victims and discourages them from reporting, and proposed "romance baiting". But US regulatory filing conventions still require the older phrase — the relevant suspicious-activity report key term contains it literally — so an analyst cannot simply abandon it.
What to write instead
romance baiting, or relationship investment fraud, in analytical prose. Note that 殺豬盤 is the perpetrators' term. Where a US filing convention requires the older phrase, use it there and say why.
Related
- Underground banking — 地下錢莊 / 地下钱庄
Sources
- INTERPOL public statement on terminology, December 2024
- FinCEN alert on virtual currency investment scams (2023) and its SAR key term