Couple defrauded of retirement savings through pig butchering scam initiated via Facebook

Summary

A family in Shoreline, Washington, lost nearly $40,000 in a "pig butchering" scam between May 2025 and November 2025. The scam began when the wife responded to a Facebook ad offering money for liking and sharing videos online. The Hovland family and others were paid initially, which led them to reinvest money in the scheme for about six months. The scam ended abruptly when the company’s website disappeared and they were told they were fired, with all their invested money gone. The FBI described the scam as a type of fraud where victims are lured with initial payments before being cut off and losing large sums. The FBI noted that these scams result in tens of billions of dollars in losses annually in the U.S., and recovering funds is extremely difficult once the scam is discovered.