Cyberscams suck. Not only for the target but also for the victimized and enslaved “scammers.” Cyberscams bring irreversible damage to people, causing them to lose great amounts of money. In addition, oftentimes the way these operations are run is through human trafficking and enslaved labor, in which workers are forced to endure brutal conditions and cruel treatment. The article, “Texts from a Scammer,” from The Week, explained the behind-the-scenes of the global cyberscam issue known as pig butchering. The article covered the impacts of the scam, how the scams are run, and what is being done to crack down on the scams.
Pig butchering is the practice of scammers sending texts to random people, some claiming to have met before or even just saying a simple, “Hi.” The goal of pig butchering is to receive a response and build off of it to create a relationship with the stranger. Eventually, the scammers attempt to gain trust through promises of money or romance, even going as far as catfishing older men and women desperate for connection. Once a connection is built, they recommend investing and financial advice. Building that connection is known as “fattening” the victims, and eventually when the scammers are ready to “butcher,” they encourage investments into nonexistent funds or crypto schemes, leading to theft of their investments.
These scams are hard to come back from and can permanently and negatively impact victims’ lives forever. In addition, pig butchering is an incredibly hard operation to crack down on since it happens on a global and industrial scale. It is a multi-billion-dollar network that uses complex money laundering tactics and operates in heavily guarded compounds and relies on human trafficking.
The people behind these scams are mostly gangs and organized crime syndicates based in Southeast Asia; however, these cyberscams occur on a global scale. The scammers themselves are often young people desperate for work who are lured in by promises of money and a job. One individual, 22-year-old Fan, was lured in by an ad for food delivery. Instead of a job, Fan was locked into a barbed-wire compound with guards.
The Week article, “Texts from a Scammer,” shared that “an estimated 150,000 scammers are enslaved in compounds in and around Cambodia, often run by Chinese gangs” (The Week). These scammers are forced to work for hours with little to no pay, enduring brutal and cruel treatment. They cannot leave, and if they perform poorly as a butcher, they are tortured. One sad truth is that within these compounds, sexual abuse of women is commonplace. A story that came out documented how “one Taiwanese woman arrived in Cambodia for the promise of a front desk job, only to be threatened” (TheWeek). While most are aware of cyberscams and text scams, many do not know the behind-the-scenes and cruel treatment that people are forced into. Overall the practice of pig butchering is incredibly atrocious and cruel, not only for the victims but also for the victimized scammers forced into the job through human trafficking and enslavement.
