Pig Butchering Scam
You were not careless.
You were targeted.
Pig butchering scams are run by organized operations that spend weeks building trust before they strike. If you sent crypto to a fake investment or trading platform, the funds left a public trail. WalletDNA traces where they went and turns it into an evidence report you can act on.
We trace and document. We do not recover funds.
WalletDNA is an on-chain analytics tool, not a recovery service, law firm, or guarantee. We produce the documented trail your funds took so you can take real evidence to your exchange and the authorities. Be very wary of anyone who promises to get your money back for a fee.
How the money moves on-chain
The fake platform is a front. Understanding the typical flow is the key to tracing it:
Deposit
You send crypto to a 'deposit address' shown in the fake platform. This is a real wallet the operators control — not an account in your name.
Consolidation
Deposits from many victims are swept together into a small number of consolidation wallets to pool the stolen funds.
Layering
Funds are moved through intermediary wallets — sometimes a mixer — to obscure the trail before cash-out.
Cash-out
The funds are sent to an exchange or OTC desk to be converted to cash. This is the point where a regulated exchange may hold the recipient's identity.
A large portion of these flows use USDT on the Tron network because it settles fast and cheap. WalletDNA traces Tron and USDT-TRC20 directly, and surfaces how much of the flow is stablecoin-denominated.
What WalletDNA can show you
Where your deposit went
Trace the deposit address forward to the consolidation and cash-out wallets, up to two hops.
Whether it hit an exchange
If funds reached a known exchange, that is your strongest lead — the report names it.
Stablecoin exposure
See how much of the traced flow is USDT/USDC, the rails these operations rely on.
A report you can send
Download a PDF with the trace, risk score, and a plain-English narrative for exchanges and police.
What to do right now
- 1.Stop sending money. Do not pay any "tax," "fee," or "deposit" to unlock a withdrawal. That is part of the scam.
- 2.Preserve evidence. Save the platform URL, deposit addresses, transaction hashes, and all chat history. Screenshot everything.
- 3.Trace the deposit address with WalletDNA and download the report.
- 4.Report it. In the US, file with the FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov and your local police; elsewhere, your national cybercrime authority. If funds reached an exchange, contact its fraud team too.
- 5.Protect yourself from the second scam. Recovery agents who contact you are part of the fraud ecosystem. Ignore them.
⚠ Beware recovery scams
Pig butchering victims are prime targets for "recovery" scams — a second crew posing as investigators, lawyers, or even authorities, charging upfront fees to retrieve funds they cannot recover. Legitimate tracing produces evidence you take to real authorities; it is never a pay-now guarantee of getting money back.
Pig butchering scam — FAQ
What is a pig butchering scam?
Pig butchering (from the Chinese 'sha zhu pan') is a long-con investment scam. A stranger builds trust over weeks or months — often through a dating app, social media, or a 'wrong number' text — then introduces a fake but professional-looking crypto trading or staking platform. Early small 'profits' can be withdrawn to build confidence. Once the victim deposits a large amount, the platform blocks withdrawals, demands 'taxes' or 'fees' to release funds, and eventually disappears.
Where does the money actually go?
Deposits almost never stay on the fake platform. They are swept into consolidation wallets controlled by the operators, then moved toward exchanges or OTC desks to be cashed out. A very large share of pig butchering flows uses USDT on the Tron network because it is fast and low-fee. WalletDNA traces this path and fully supports USDT-TRC20.
Can the funds be traced if it went to a 'platform'?
Yes. The deposit address the platform gave you is a real blockchain address, and everything that happens to funds sent there is public and permanent. WalletDNA follows the money from that address to wherever it moved next, and flags any exchange, mixer, or sanctioned wallet on the path.
Will tracing get my money back?
Tracing does not return funds by itself, and no honest service will promise that. What it does is produce documented evidence of where the funds went — which is exactly what exchanges and law enforcement need to act. If funds reached a regulated exchange, that exchange holds identity data on the recipient, which is the strongest possible lead.
I was contacted by someone offering to recover my funds — is that real?
Almost certainly not. 'Recovery scams' specifically target pig butchering victims for a second round of theft, charging upfront fees to 'unlock' or 'recover' money they cannot actually retrieve. Legitimate tracing gives you evidence to bring to authorities; it is never an upfront-fee guarantee.
Trace your funds now — free
Paste the deposit address or a transaction hash. Results in under 60 seconds across 18 chains, including USDT on Tron.
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