Pig butchering is the industry name for the fraud that now leads US loss reporting: an average loss near $177,000 per victim in the 2025 FTC data. It is expensive because it is slow. What follows is the shape of the script, assembled from published law-enforcement and regulator reporting — a labelled composite, in the same spirit as our case files.
Stage 1 — the raise (days 1–21)
The target is chosen where people are already open: a dating app, a social group, a friend-of-a-friend introduction. The script spends weeks on the relationship before money is mentioned — shared music, long voice notes, a consistent life story. The taxonomy weights what happens here: contact at high frequency, isolation requests ("keep this between us"), and the early probe — "would you ever invest? just curious."
Stage 2 — the pivot (days 21–45)
The opportunity arrives from a trusted third party: a cousin, a colleague, "a friend in finance." The claim always has the same shape — a platform with returns that are real, verifiable, and locked. "My portfolio is locked until the campaign ends." "Deposits under a certain size are not accepted." Each excuse is a meaningful-weight indicator on its own; the pattern of three or more platform claims is what pushes a score into the red.
Stage 3 — the platform (days 45–75)
The platform exists only inside the conversation. It looks professional: charts, an account manager, live support. The first small withdrawal succeeds. That is not a mistake — it is the hook. After it, withdrawals move to a "matching cycle" that completes just after you decide to stop, and a new fee appears for the delay.
Stage 4 — the harvest (days 75–90)
The final asks stack: margin top-ups, "taxes on withdrawal," an insurance deposit, one last chance before the cycle closes. Every ask is framed as the final step. The script's average total ask is what makes the average loss six figures.
Where the script breaks
It breaks at the first obstacle to verification. A real institution can be checked by a third party — a call on a number you found yourself, a regulator's register, a person who wants nothing from you. If the only way to "see" the platform is to pay more, it is not an institution. It is a stage.
If a conversation you are having matches this arc, run it through the analyzer. It shows exactly which lines fired, with the weight and the reasoning — and it ends with the second-channel test.