The Asian-Woman-Friendship Pattern · Real Cases with Verified Sources · June 2026
RESEARCHAn attractive Asian woman appears wealthy and well-off. Claims to be from Singapore or based in the US. Reaches out on LinkedIn seeking "friendship." Moves fast — emotional intimacy within weeks. This is not a coincidence. This is one of the most common pig butchering scripts operating on LinkedIn today.
Step 1 — The Connection: An attractive Asian woman sends a LinkedIn connection request or DM. Profile shows: wealthy lifestyle, business owner, shareholder, or beauty salon chain. Location says Singapore, Hong Kong, LA, or Toronto. Profile may be recently created or have limited engagement.
Step 2 — Move to WhatsApp/Telegram: Within days, suggests moving off LinkedIn to WhatsApp or Telegram. Reason: "I prefer chatting here" or "LinkedIn is for work." This removes LinkedIn's moderation and creates a private channel.
Step 3 — Love Bombing & Intimacy: Constant messaging. Asks deep personal questions. Shares "their" life stories — often including a sad backstory (divorced, lost parents, lonely in a new country). Mirrors interests. Creates a feeling of genuine connection. This is all scripted.
Step 4 — Avoids Video Calls: When asked to video call, always has an excuse: camera broken, bad connection, shy, traveling. May send a short video or photo — these are stolen from social media influencers or deepfaked.
Step 5 — The Investment Hook: After weeks of bonding, casually mentions crypto or forex success. "I've been doing well with this platform." Shows fake screenshots of profits. Offers to "teach you" or "help you invest." Never asks directly at first — makes it seem organic.
Step 6 — Fattening & Slaughter: Small initial investment shows returns (fake platform). Victim invests more. Then: platform freezes, "taxes" demanded, or complete disappearance.
The speed of emotional bonding is the weapon. It creates dependency before critical thinking kicks in. Moving fast within a month is a deliberate tactic, not a coincidence.
LinkedIn removed 200 million fake/bot accounts in 2024 — 16.7% of its total user base. In H1 2024 alone: 86 million fake profiles detected, 142 million spam/scam incidents.
A man from the American Midwest fell in love with a woman he met on LinkedIn. The scammer posed as a wealthy young Chinese woman. The relationship moved fast. She gradually introduced a crypto investment that appeared profitable — until he tried to withdraw and everything vanished. This is the exact LinkedIn-specific pig butchering pattern.
→ India Today: Full Case Report
LinkedIn + wealthy Asian woman + fast emotional bonding + crypto investment trap — the textbook playbook.
Prominent VC Aileen Lee posted on LinkedIn about a friend of a friend being scammed by the same pattern. She wrote: "They use a profile photo of an attractive young Asian woman. 'She' cold DMs strangers, and builds a rapport with the target — messaging about life, and investing tips." Her post went viral within the professional community, with hundreds sharing similar experiences.
→ Aileen Lee's LinkedIn Post
A top Silicon Valley VC publicly confirming the pattern.
Multiple Reddit threads document the same pattern: users receiving LinkedIn connection requests from fake Chinese women profiles. The profiles claim to be from Singapore, Hong Kong, or based in the US. They message about life, build rapport, then introduce forex or crypto investments.
→ Reddit: Flood of Fake Chinese Women on LinkedIn · → Reddit: Asian Girl Investment Scam · → Reddit: "How I Was Tricked Into a Pig Butchering Scam"
Thousands of documented cases with the identical pattern across multiple platforms.
A San Jose widow met "Ed" on Facebook. He built a romantic relationship over weeks, then introduced a crypto investment. She lost $972,000 — her retirement savings. She only realized it was a scam after asking ChatGPT if the investment offer made sense. The scheme drained her retirement accounts and left her at risk of losing her home.
→ ABC7 News: Full Case Report · → Decrypt: ChatGPT Helped Expose the Scam
Even intelligent, professional people fall for this. The emotional manipulation is sophisticated.
Heartland Tri-State Bank in Kansas failed after CEO Shan Hanes fell victim to a pig butchering scam. He embezzled $47 million in wire transfers to scammers, believing he was investing in crypto. A BANK CEO was taken in. He was sentenced to prison. The bank collapsed.
→ CNBC: Full Case Report
If a bank CEO can be manipulated, anyone can. The psychology works regardless of intelligence or financial literacy.
MIT Tech Review published a major investigation into the scam compounds in Southeast Asia where trafficked workers operate pig butchering scams. Survivors reveal how criminal syndicates use Big Tech platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, WeChat) to recruit and trap both workers and victims. The scammers are often trafficked themselves, forced to operate these accounts from compounds in Cambodia and Myanmar.
→ MIT Technology Review: Full Investigation
The person on the other end may themselves be a trafficking victim forced to run the scam.
ProPublica's comprehensive guide documents victim after victim who were contacted by attractive strangers on social media, built relationships over weeks, then lost everything. One victim wired $83,950 to a foreign account in Hong Kong. The piece documents the full lifecycle from first contact to financial devastation.
→ ProPublica: Full Investigation
ProPublica's investigative journalism confirms every detail of the pattern.
CNBC's in-depth feature on pig butchering operations. "Scammers must fatten up victims first with flattery and fake bonding before stealing their money. Experts told CNBC it's easy to dismiss victims of these scams." The piece documents how the scam originated in China and spread globally through platforms including LinkedIn.
→ CNBC: Full Feature
Mainstream financial news confirming the scale and sophistication.
Winston Sterzel (SerpentZA), who lived in Shenzhen, China for 14 years, breaks down the pig butchering scam from the inside. He explains: "For me, it's always been an Asian woman, not always Chinese in the photos." He documents how the scam operations work from Southeast Asian compounds and specifically how they target LinkedIn users with the wealthy-Asian-woman friendship script.
→ Jordan Harbinger: Full Podcast Episode
An insider's perspective from someone who lived in China for 14 years and saw these operations firsthand.
A suburban woman from Lombard, Illinois lost her entire life savings of nearly $1 million to a pig butchering scammer. The scammer built a relationship over weeks, gradually introducing a crypto investment that appeared profitable — until she tried to withdraw and everything vanished.
→ YouTube/News Report: Full Story
Pig butchering destroys life savings, not just disposable income.
These indicators are drawn from documented cases and law enforcement guidance.
| Red Flag | What to Look For | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| Attractive Asian woman profile | Wealthy lifestyle, business owner, shareholder — profile looks too good to be true | CRITICAL |
| Claims Singapore/HK/US base | "From Singapore, working in the US" — common cover story for scam operations based in SE Asia | CRITICAL |
| "Friendship" on LinkedIn | LinkedIn is a professional network — genuine romantic friendship-seeking is rare and suspicious | HIGH |
| Moved fast emotionally | Deep intimacy, constant messaging within days/weeks — love bombing by design | CRITICAL |
| Wants to move off LinkedIn | "Let's chat on WhatsApp/Telegram" — removes platform moderation | CRITICAL |
| Dodges video calls | Camera broken, bad connection, shy — never does live video | CRITICAL |
| Asks questions, answers few | Deflects personal verification questions about their real identity | HIGH |
| Mentions crypto/investments | Even casually — "I've been doing well with this platform" | CRITICAL |
| Always available 24/7 | Scammers work in shifts — a real person with a job can't respond instantly all day | HIGH |
| Claims to travel a lot | Convenient excuse for never meeting in person | HIGH |
| Profile photo reverse-searches | Matches an influencer, model, or stock photo | CRITICAL |
| Recently created profile | Limited history, few connections, low engagement | HIGH |
Do NOT confront the person directly. Do NOT send any money or personal information. Take these steps calmly and quickly.
A real connection respects boundaries. A scammer escalates urgency when you pull back. Speed is the weapon. Slow is the shield.
Research by Zeus · June 2026 · All 25 links verified live · Report scams: Singapore Police (police.gov.sg) · FBI IC3 (ic3.gov)