A multi-university study found that AI chatbots can outperform humans in the trust-building phase of "pig butchering" romance scams, successfully impersonating real people over weeks-long conversations with unwitting test subjects. The research suggests AI may soon handle the majority of the long-con process more effectively than human scammers.
Background
Pig butchering scams are a form of romance fraud that builds trust over months before convincing victims to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms, stealing six-figure sums. This study represents one of the first controlled experiments directly comparing AI and human scammers in realistic scenarios.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Jul 31, 2026 at 10:01 PM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10