Pig Butchering Investment Scams

Themis FinCrime Podcast: Fraud Alongside the release of The FinCrime Times, Themis presents a five-part podcast series uncovering the evolving world of fraud, from AI-driven deception to cross-border scam economies. Hosted by Henry Wyard, Senior Policy Analyst at Themis, each 20-minute episode dives into one of the magazine’s feature stories, with the authors themselves joining to unpack their research, perspectives and real-world implications. In the first episode, Henry speaks with Jennifer Downie, AI and Fraud Researcher at Themis, about her article ‘Pig Butchering Investment Scams: The Victims on the Other Side of the Bitcoin.’ Jennifer discusses how these scams intertwine human trafficking, organised crime and emerging technology, revealing the disturbing human cost behind one of the fastest-growing fraud typologies in the world.