Pig butchering is characterized as an advanced form of cyber-enabled social engineering that blends romantic engagement with investment schemes. While much of the existing scholarship emphasizes the experiences of victims, there is a notable gap in understanding how scammers are trained to deploy these strategies. To address this, the study draws on a distinctive data source—scam manuals that guide operational methods—to reveal the psychological and communication theories that inform their use. The analysis indicates that operators deliberately harness patterns of interpersonal communication, the dynamics of relationships, and motivational cues to earn victims’ trust and commitment, and to steer them toward actions aligned with the scammers’ objectives. In doing so, these actors aim to influence victims’ self-growth motivations, shaping how they perceive risk, opportunity, and personal development within the fraudulent context. The findings point to a coherent mechanism in which training materials encode a repertoire of strategies that systematically exploit social-psychological processes. By orchestrating conversations, mate-selection dynamics, and aspirational messaging, scammers manipulate victims’ self-perceptions and decision-making, fostering attachment and a sense of progressing personal goals. This orchestrated approach helps explain how so many victims become gradually invested and less able to disengage. The study thus documents a structured interplay between communication tactics and motivational appeals that underpins the emergent trust and commitment observed in these operations. To synthesize these insights, the authors propose a unified stage model that maps and links the relevant psychological and communication theories across the sequence of scam stages. The model serves to integrate theoretical perspectives and to illuminate how each stage relies on specific social-cognitive mechanisms. In addition, the discussion situates the model within the broader cybersecurity literature, arguing that it can inform the design of more targeted prevention and intervention strategies. By explicitly addressing the human vulnerabilities exploited by sophisticated cyber-enabled crime, the framework offers a basis for developing measures that disrupt the favorable conditions for manipulation and reduce victims’ susceptibility to such deception.