Sydney single woman Sarah* was looking for love and thought she might have met "the one" on the dating platform Tinder.

But, within the space of two weeks, the 44-year-old bank worker had fallen head-over-heels, not only for a man who wasn't real, but a scam that swindled her out of $157,000 – her entire life savings and then some.

Sarah, who works for one of Australia's biggest banks, said the fallout from the scam had been emotionally and financially devastating.

"It's been humiliation, heaped upon humiliation," she said.

"I realise how idiotic I am now. I'm still trying to reconcile that I've actually done this to myself."

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The type of scam Sarah fell victim to is known for its remorselessness and goes by the aptly brutal term "pig butchering". 

Pig butchering is a cross between a romance and cryptocurrency scam and alludes to the idea of victims being "fattened up for the slaughter" with the belief they are falling in love. 

Global law enforcement and cybersecurity experts warn it's now a crime that's on the rise in Western countries, after originating in China.

'It was so good'

The nightmare all started for Sarah last month when she was matched with a man called John* on Tinder.

The man had a "verified" Tinder profile and appeared to live just 16 kilometres away from Sarah in Sydney's inner west.

According to Tinder, users are required to submit a "video selfie" which is compared to their profile photo using facial recognition technology in order to gain verification.

On its website, Tinder states that "while the blue check mark can be a signal that someone is who they claim based on the photos they have provided to Tinder, it is not a guarantee of authenticity".

A spokesperson for Tinder told 9news.com.au the platform started using video selfies to verify accounts in April in order to strengthen its processes.

Tinder declined to say whether the user who approached Sarah used a video selfie to authenticate their account.

John's photos on Tinder showed a man, pictured with a pet husky.

Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at has also issued recent warnings about pig butchering scams.

Australian cybercrime expert Simon Smith, from the Online Crime Action Centre, told 9news.com.au in December he had worked with many local victims of pig butchering scams, with some losing up to $850,000.

"They are very elaborate and relentless, the scammers keep going until they have taken their victim's last cent, and then some," Smith said.

What do I do now?

After learning she had been scammed, Sarah contacted ReportCyber, run by the government's Australian Cyber Security Centre and lodged a report.

In response to her report, NSW ReportCyber told Sarah in an email that the scam appeared to have been orchestrated by a person overseas – outside the jurisdiction of NSW Police.

Further investigation was also "unlikely to result in a successful prosecution of the party responsible" because of the unregulated nature of cryptocurrency, NSW ReportCyber said.

Unhappy with the response, Sarah said she made a statement at her local police station, but police were yet to follow up the matter.

"It's quite clear that they've got no bloody idea what to do," Sarah said.

"If someone broke into my house and stole everything that would be a different story." 

"I have no idea where to go now," she said.

Sarah said her priority was to apply for an increased loan on her mortgage, in order to repay her friend.

"I'm just terrified now. I was in a really good financial position, for my age, and now I'm not," she said.

"I didn't lose everything as I still have my property and I still have my super. But, with $157,000 gone, I won't come back from this for years. 

"It's been bad on all fronts. I feel like I lost him, I lost my money, and I lost myself a bit. 

"I'm the kind of person who's never done anything wrong in their life. I'm a rule follower and I've done this one thing and it's ruined everything."

* Names have been changed.