Helping Romance Scam Victims Require a Proactive, Empathic Approach

The article examines the growing problem of "pig-butchering" scams—long-term social-engineering campaigns (often romance or investment fraud) that build trust over months before defrauding victims—highlighting individual victim stories, FBI 2025 statistics on romance and investment scams, the transnational boiler-room nature of many operations, and calls for empathy-first victim support and coordinated anti-fraud measures across banks, telecoms, law enforcement, and nonprofits.