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The New Network Fraud of “Pig Butchering” from the Perspective of Criminal Law

Tan, Xun (2023) — Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media

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DOI: 10.54254/2753-7048/17/20231215 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   China
Tags:   Criminal Law, Law Enforcement, Measurement, Network Fraud, Pig Butchering, Prevention, Romance Scams
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Synopsis

            
The piece examines the cybercrime known as “pig butchering” from the standpoint of Chinese criminal law, with the aim of understanding how this evolving fraud operates and how to prevent and respond to it. It surveys the phenomenon as a form of online dating-driven deception that culminates in large financial losses, describing its stages from initial grooming to money extraction and eventual disengagement. The author situates the crime within broader telecom fraud concerns and notes that, in mainland China, there is not yet a dedicated statutory crime for internet fraud, prompting a reliance on existing fraud provisions for judicial handling. The article reviews the legal framework and practical challenges that courts and law enforcement encounter in prosecuting pig butchering. It argues that Article 266, on fraudulent public or private property, is commonly applied but may not always fit all pig butchering cases, leading to inconsistencies in charging and sentencing. It also highlights uncertainties in judicial interpretation regarding applicability to online fraud and the absence of a clear, separate cybercrime category in current law. The discussion extends to difficulties in defining joint criminality, tracing multi-jurisdictional funds, and accurately quantifying losses when perpetrators operate across borders. The author links these legal gaps to practical difficulties in investigation, evidence collection, and punishment. To address these issues, the publication advocates legislative development to create a standalone cybercrime offense, improved cross-agency cooperation, enhanced information sharing, and more precise judicial interpretations. It also recommends preventive and regulatory measures, such as stronger data protection, normalization of big-data collaborations, and proactive public education. The analysis is grounded in Chinese case examples and comparative references, and it acknowledges limitations in current law and enforcement without offering empirical prevalence data.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies gaps in mainland China’s legal response: no separate offense for internet fraud, unclear applicability of fraud provisions to online conduct, incomplete judicial interpretation, inconsistent charging where fraud overlaps with gambling, difficulty proving accomplice knowledge, and difficulty tracing dispersed cross-border proceeds. It also describes weak prevention, incomplete police-enterprise cooperation, and nonspecific public education.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
This is a descriptive criminal-law analysis of pig-butchering fraud in mainland China. It defines a three-stage fraud process, discusses one illustrative court case, reviews stated domestic and foreign legal approaches, identifies legal and evidentiary difficulties, and advances legislative, enforcement, regulatory, and public-prevention recommendations. No systematic empirical data collection or formal comparative legal method is described.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The paper does not report a systematic case sample, data-collection procedure, coding approach, or outcome evaluation. Its claims about prevalence, enforcement, and foreign legal models are largely descriptive and supported through selected examples and cited literature. Therefore, it offers policy-oriented legal analysis rather than robust empirical evidence about offenders, victims, or intervention effectiveness.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Develop a distinct offense or clearer judicial interpretation for internet and telecommunications fraud; examine relevant cases nationwide and compare experience across legal systems; strengthen police-judiciary coordination, evidence collection, cross-border law-enforcement cooperation, police-enterprise data cooperation, and account-monitoring systems.

          

              

    
    

        
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