‘Pig butchering’: Scammers using slaves in Southeast Asia to rob billions from victims in cryptocurrency scam

Fake crypto platforms are being used to scam ordinary people out of thousands of dollars - all with the use of helpless slaves.

The civil war in Myanmar is being exploited by transnational crime syndicates to build slave compounds along the Thai-Myanmar border. Picture: Sai Aung Main/AFP

An international fraud operation running out of Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries has been robbing thousands of their life savings across the world, using people in the country to conduct the scams in conditions described as modern-day slavery.

Reporters at CNN conducted an investigation into ‘pig butchering’: where scammers pretend to be women online, building relationships with victims and influencing them to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms before taking the money themselves.

According to the FBI, pig butchering scams caused losses of up to US$907 million ($1.3 billion) in 2020, with the number ballooning to US$2.9 billion ($4.2 billion) throughout 2023.

“The bad guys are getting good, and they’re getting better,” FBI special agent James Barnacle said.

The US Department of Justice recently charged four individuals involved with pig butchering at the cost of $80 million from their victims.

Victims would often be tricked into downloading clones of legitimate crypto trading apps, investing until they are locked out of their accounts by scammers. Picture: Silas Stein/Picture alliance via Getty Images

Tens of thousands fall victim to this scam – but the scammers often end up being victims themselves.

In Southeast Asia, workers from various countries have been trafficked to Myanmar after coming to Thailand, thinking they had been offered white-collar work.

These workers are then forced by Chinese crime syndicates to conduct online pig butchering scams for them, taking billions of dollars for the owners of the organisations.

The UN calculated that up to 120,000 people were being held in Myanmar to conduct these scams, with 100,000 others held in Cambodia and elsewhere. They called the scale of human trafficking one of the largest in recent Asian history.

“This is modern slavery. And it’s right under everybody’s nose,” said founder of the NGO Global Alms, Mechelle Moore, who works with victims of trafficking, and pointed out several locations used for the scams to CNN.

The civil war in Myanmar is being exploited by transnational crime syndicates to build slave compounds along the Thai-Myanmar border. Picture: Sai Aung Main/AFP

Thailand’s government is attempting to mitigate the trafficking by raising awareness about the scam to people in the country.

Indian worker Rakesh was one of those who ended up forced to work in Myanmar against his will, after being told he would be starting an IT job in Bangkok.

He was then kept in a Myanmar compound called Gate 25, and was told he would be working as a professional scammer.

“This you need to do … otherwise I will kill you,” he said a Chinese man told him.

When he refused, he was kept in a cell without food or water until he agreed.

Rakesh once contacted the Indian embassy in Yangon for help in escaping, when he heard shelling from the Myanmar civil war close by the compound. Picture: AFP

Rakesh spent 11 months posing as Klara Semonov, a blonde investor from Salt Lake City.

He said that those who didn’t bring in enough victims were tortured with punishments such as squats, push-ups and beatings with electrical sticks. “We are slaves,” he said.

Rakesh was released when his contract ended, but presumed he was let go due to not making the syndicate enough money. He was not paid for any of his work.

When he left the compound, he was eventually picked up the director of the NGO Global Advance Projects, Judah Tana. While describing his experiences in the compound, he asked why authorities weren’t raiding the location.

Mr Tana replied, “Why doesn’t anyone rescue you? Because it’s the largest organised crime unit in the world”.

Several international officials have announced crackdowns on trafficking in the service of large-scale fraud activity, including UK Home Secretary James Cleverly. Picture: Adrian Dennis/AFP

The UK, US and Canada recently announced sanctions targeting individuals and entities they believe are involved in the trafficking.

“The UK is actively rooting out all facilitators of large-scale fraud, both nationally and internationally, to protect public welfare,” said UK Home Secretary James Cleverly. “Today’s announcement sends a clear warning: anyone attempting to gain from human rights abuses will be brought to justice.”