I Was Targeted by Two Sophisticated LinkedIn Pig Butchering Scams in the Same Week

Over the past few months, I’ve been increasing my visibility — more blogging, more conversation on LinkedIn, and generally showing up again after some time off. It was paying off: more profile views, more engagement, more conversations.

With additional visibility to actual people, that same visibility increased for scammers. They’ve always been part of life, but this time they showed up looking polished, professional, and perhaps even dangerously convincing.

In the span of a single week, I was targeted by two separate pig butchering scams. One came disguised as a professional opportunity; the other, as a casual, but professional connection. Both had different approaches, but the same intent, to extract financial information or build rapport for eventual exploitation in the form of crypto trading.

If you’re working in public, building a business, or even just exploring career changes, this post is worth your time. I walk through exactly how these scams played out, why they were designed the way they were, and how to avoid wasting your own time on one.

The first scam attempt is quite interesting as I was unable to find any cases of it that were similar. It seems to be an evolution of existing job type scams. That’s what prompted me to write this post.

The second scam was an attempted relationship scam, and is the most common.

As with all scams, though, they keep getting more and more sophisticated and harder to spot. Pig butchering scams are especially heinous since the target on what the victims want most - a connection with another human.

Normally, this particular type of scam normal unfolds over the course of months. They work slowly to build a sense of connection and trust, and then they start to share a “hobby” in the form of crypto trading. They show you screen shots or “demo” trades that they’ve done, and convince you to use the same tools that they do since it’s so easy and risk-free. These sites allow you to deposit actual money, and then they show you how successful your trades are, so you keep putting more money in. When you try to withdraw, however, you can’t. The scam is now complete, and you’ll never hear from them again.

So with that brief intro to how the scam works, here’s how they played out with me.

Scam #1: The “AI Advisory” Role

It started like many legitimate connections do: a “recruiter” viewed my profile on LinkedIn and sent a message. He told me that I might be a good fit for a new startup and asked if I was interested. Of course, that’s why I’m on LinkedIn. He offered to connect me with his “boss,” and asked for my Signal ID or number. Odd, but okay.

She reached out via Signal the next morning and introduced herself as a senior executive based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was originally from Singapore, but had been in the US now for several years and being guided by her “aunt” who was working on getting the investment money. She claimed to represent a company called NOAHMIND, a stealth-mode AI startup looking to build out its strategic advisory team.

She shared:

• A multi-page PDF business plan
• A formal pitch deck about the company’s launch strategy
• A company website, which was live at the time

It all looked professional enough to warrant a closer look. So I continued engaging with her in a professional way, never showing my skepticism.

Why It Wasn’t Immediately Obvious

I’ve worked in tech long enough to know that sometimes weird opportunities are real. Especially in small, niche corners of the industry - AI tooling, appraisal tech, compliance systems - where domain expertise is rare and companies are sometimes willing to pay for exactly the right perspective.

I had also just recently read that just a few weeks earlier, a solo developer sold a 6-month-old SaaS called Base44 to Wix for $80 million in cash. It was one of those unicorn moments that reminds you that even improbable things do still happen.

That story stuck with me, and I suspect it’s why I gave this scammer more attention than I normally would have. They were offering:

• $180K - $250K salary for full time, or $150 - $700 per hour for part time - in line with my hourly rates
• Remote flexibility - I only work remotely
• A vague, but realistic-sounding “AI Trainer” role - something that I’ve done with my other ventures
• Equity and bonus potential - icing on the cake

That doesn’t sound unrealistic at all if you’re someone with deep vertical knowledge in, say, compliance risk modeling, real estate analysis, or underwriting automation. I’ve done all of that work and more.

It wasn’t really believable, though because of the randomness of the introduction and “interview” - but it was just believable enough to be worth verifying. I’m not one to simply dismiss an opportunity without vetting it first.

The Persona

This person, who went by the name Anna Wang, was polished, confident, and (on the surface) professional. She sent a number of photos over Signal, all showing a very affluent lifestyle. Some were clearly AI-generated. Others appeared to be pulled from Instagram or other social media sources.

She claimed her team would eventually fly me to Texas for their product launch - first class, all expenses covered - and wanted to begin onboarding in advance.

Over the course of the next week, she attempted to make the conversation more personal and trying to befriend me and say that we’ll have many future partnerships together. She mentioned that she was all alone in the US and her family was back in Singapore - including her 10 year old son who was being raised by her parents while she was in the US making money. Not completely implausible, but still moving a bit fast with the personal information. She was trying to make a connection with my emotions, a very important step in the scam.

This progressed daily for about a week, honestly to the point where it was starting to be a chore for me to maintain the conversations. Toward the end of our conversation, she sent a photo of her legs while she was sitting in a conference chair. It wasn’t in any way obscene, but it wasn’t professional for an executive-level conversation.

I didn’t react. I remained professional throughout. In fact, I suspect that confused her since pig butchering scams usually rely on building emotional rapport or playing on loneliness. I gave her none of the usual openings for that type of connection.

The Setup Begins to Crack

A few days in, the direction shifted. Subtle questions started showing up:

• What’s your investment experience?
• Do you hold crypto?
• Would you consider a portfolio evaluation as part of onboarding?

All of this was pitched under the guise of “helping tailor the advisor experience,” and to making sure that I had an income while waiting for the two months before the launch, but it was clear what was happening.

The website (noahmindus.com) looked clean and professional, but it had only been registered five days before I was contacted. One of the executive bios included the name and photo of Susan Huang, an actual VP at Morgan Stanley in M&A. It didn’t say she worked there, but it implied it by omission. She hinted frequently that Ms. Huang was her aunt, though never stated it outright.

Eventually, I called out the inconsistencies, from the sketchy domain to the evasive answers. I never got aggressive. I just started asking direct, simple questions. And the scammer’s tone turned fast.

She became defensive. Then borderline hostile. She said I was being disrespectful and accused me of wasting her time. There was no escalation after that. Just silence.

What was a steady stream of conversation over the last week was now total silence.

Scam #2: A Faster “Anna Wang”

While researching the first Anna Wang and trying to verify her claims, I came across another LinkedIn profile with the same name. I clicked on her profile to see if it was potentially the same person. It was clearly a different person, but still professional. Her work history listed major companies like Intel, Adobe, and Apple, with her last role ending in 2024.

By looking at her profile, that placed me in her suggested connections. Within a day, she sent a connection request. I accepted, partly to expand my professional network, partly to see where it might lead.

She asked to move the conversation to Telegram, and when I declined, she followed me to Signal instead. That was the beginning of a much faster moving scam.

Over the course of just a few days, she followed a now-familiar pattern:

• She began texting morning and night, trying to create a feeling of intimacy and routine
• She described feeling a “connection” with me and said she trusted me in a way she hadn’t expected
• Her story changed - she now ran a fashion business with 15 employees, had an 11-year-old son living in Hong Kong, and was in the U.S. working hard for her family
• She sent a steady stream of photos showing luxury clothing, homes, beautifully prepared meals, and outings

By day four, the pitch arrived.

She shared a screenshot of a crypto trading app, claiming her “aunt” on Wall Street had tipped her off to a profitable move. The trade, according to her screenshot, made her $18,000 in under a minute. She left the URL visible, though, and it led to an obvious fake trading platform.

She began encouraging me to try it. Aggressively.

She asked how much money was in my 401(k), how many stocks I owned, whether I had crypto already, and whether I was interested in “just seeing how the tools work.”

She also sent workout selfies. Mildly suggestive, no face, influencer-style. Not overtly inappropriate, but definitely not what you expect from a professional contact just a few days into a conversation.

This scam wasn’t subtle. It was rushed, clumsy, and overly reliant on emotional appeal. The target wasn’t a job, it was me, personally. The goal was to create a sense of closeness quickly, and then use it to guide me into financial fraud.

It was so blatant, it barely warranted the effort. But I stayed with it long enough to be sure, and when the patterns were clear, I confronted both Annas at the same time.

I haven’t heard from either one of them since.

What They Got, and What They Didn’t

They got:

• My resume (already public)
• A few bits of personal context that I’ve shared before on my blog or social accounts

They didn’t get:

• Any financial information
• Any government ID
• Any passwords or account access
• Any money

What they did get was about 6–8 hours of my week — time I’d rather have spent on something else.

Red Flags to Watch For

Here’s what stood out across both scams:

• Immediate push to Signal or Telegram
• Recently registered domain (noahmindus.com)
• Vague but appealing offers — high salary, equity, low responsibility
• Questions about crypto and finances during “onboarding” or any other time
• Photos that blurred the line between lifestyle and bait
• Use of real executives’ names and images without acknowledgment
• Defensiveness or aggression when challenged
• Crypto trading screenshots + fake trading platforms
• Rapid intimacy or flattery with no real interaction

A Great Primer on These Scams

If you want to learn more, and possibly laugh a little, this segment from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is worth watching. It covers the rise of pig butchering scams, how they’re structured, and why they’re so dangerous:

Final Thoughts

I was targeted but not tricked. I stayed skeptical, stayed professional, and let them unravel on their own.

The reason I’m writing this is simple: these scams are getting better. They are continuing to evolve, and with AI, they can get even more realistic and believable. They aren’t all sloppy or desperate. Some are tailored for professionals, complete with pitch decks, fake teams, and fake job descriptions that almost make sense.

If you’re visible — online, freelance, building in public — this is part of the world now. And you need to know how to spot it.

• Vet domains
• Ask direct questions
• Trust your gut
• Know when to walk

And if someone sends you an onboarding PDF and then asks about your crypto trading experience, then it’s time to just walk away.

If you want a second set of eyes on something sketchy, or you’re not sure if a contact is legit, reach out. I’m happy to help another dev avoid wasting their time like I did.