International romance scam grows to industrial scale under the name of 'pig killing'

Southeast Asia is a type of ' international romance scam ' that takes a long time to get along with someone you meet online and finally cheats money. It has been reported that it has grown to a scale that can be called an industry centered on Southeast Asia, and that people in detained state are forced to commit fraud.

From Industrial-Scale Scam Centers, Trafficking Victims Are Being Forced to Steal Billions
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zb5d/pig-butchering-scam-cambodia-trafficking

The Chinese word 'killing board', which means 'pig killing,' has been used since around 2017. By April 2019, 876 victims had been reported in China, and the total damage was total. It amounts to more than 200 million yuan (about 4 billion yen).

The process of fraud is called 'pig killing', which is similar to 'raising and killing pigs', and the steps are as follows.

1: A fraudster creates himself as a 'boar sphere (pig house)' with an SNS account
2: Search for victims on SNS ('selection')
3: Deepen trust with the victim ('Boar')
4: Invite victims to fake projects such as investment and persuade them to participate
5: After giving the victim a small reward, let them invest a lot of money and then run away ('slaughter').

The complication of the industrialized 'pig killer' is that the 'scammers' are not alone, but members of a large organization, and somehow gathered and forced into labor. It is a point.

Jess, the founder of the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), a non-profit organization that supports, organizes, and speaks for victims of 'pig killing,' is also one of the victims of 'pig killing.' Jess, a woman in her thirties from Singapore, was hit by a 'pig killer' by a matching man on the dating app 'Tinder' and lost $ 16,000.

But 'I'm curious and want to know who scammed me. I'll eat up until I get what I want, until I get the answer,' Jess contacted the scammer. I took this and built a more frank relationship and learned the mechanism of 'pig killing'. In GASO, 80 volunteers who 'seek answers' have gathered in the same way to tackle 'pig killing'.

Brian, 46, from Tennessee, joined GASO after losing $ 190,000 in a business talk via LinkedIn. GASO volunteers are 60% female, and most of them are college graduates, which matches the profile of 'pig killing' victims, but Brian has two master's degrees in business, runs multiple companies, and has a profile. Does not fit. However, by turning that ability into a 'pig killing' solution, we have identified a major Cambodian money launderer from the address tracking of the crypto wallet. In addition, he is trying to get information by pretending to be both a victim and a scammer, or by 'turning' a scammer trying to escape.

A member of the 'pig killing' organization that Brian came into contact with sent photos and videos of the hideout, saying, 'Will you help me escape, or if I get caught, I'll be killed?' It shares inside information with the embassy and local police to support the rescue of trafficked victims.

Although the exact amount of damage caused by 'pig killing' is unknown, GASO deals with 1652 people alone for a total of more than $ 285 million (about 39,250 million yen), that is, $ 173,000 per victim. It seems that it is winding up (about 23.83 million yen).

According to information from NGOs working for trafficking and forced labor victims, there are an estimated tens of thousands of people in Cambodia's 'fraud centers.' Thai police have announced that 800 Thais have been rescued from the fraud center in just a few months of 2022, and 1000 are still in custody. In addition, Vietnamese workers testify that 300 compatriots have been detained in high-rise office buildings.

Mr. Bryce Tan from Malaysia applied for a job with a monthly salary of 12,000 ringgit (about 374,000 yen) that had passed the screening of the job site when he visited Cambodia, and he said, 'Victory Paradise Resort and Casino'. He was taken to the resort and his passport was confiscated, and he decided to do a 'work to get intimate with strangers on the net', which is completely different from the job offer. Mr. Tan managed to escape the facility in three weeks, but about 7,000 people testified that they were 'working.'

In Cambodia, as well as in Laos and Myanmar, where there are similar fraud centers, although there are occasional forced investigations, the operation is being carried out in a straightforward manner and has not hit at all.