More and more Americans are losing thousands of dollars to a scheme that takes fraudsters weeks or months to pull off. “Pig butchering” scams earned the name from the idea that scammers use flattery and fake bonding to “fatten up” their victims. The strategy has amassed billions in stolen funds—particularly in the form of cryptocurrencies. Of the $4.57 billion in funds reported stolen, $3.96 billion involved fraudulent crypto investments.