lrb If it were a national economy, cybercrime would be the third largest in the world, behind only the United States and China and growing by 15 per cent a year. By 2027 scams are expected to cost the world $27 trillion a year; roughly a third of the planet – any English or Chinese speaker with a phone number or email address – is a potential victim. In the UK, a financial scam is committed every fifteen seconds. Cocaine cartels shift a product that must be painstakingly grown and chemically processed, then transported thousands of miles; they rely on relationships built up over years and put millions of dollars at stake with every shipment. But scammers don’t need farmers or dockworkers or the crew of cargo ships. No physical objects have to be moved. Cash comes to them. In the case of pig butchering, much of the money is looted from ageing Western men with a hankering for human connection. Between 2020 and 2024, an estimated $75 billion – equivalent to the GDP of Belarus or Slovenia – was swindled through the ancient art of feigning romantic interest. cr：杭之冯玥感谢您关注此人