‘Pig butchering’ scams have stolen billions from people around the world

At the beginning of panic about fraud and human trafficking erupted on Chinese social media It started when a Chinese actor called Wang Xing was tricked into travelling to Thailand for an audition where he was abducted by criminals and taken to a scam center in Myanmar Wang was disclosed missing and within three days the Thai police had located and returned him to Thailand Details of the operation were not revealed leading to speculation that withholding more information was part of a deal that led to Wang s release Inside the compound Wang s head was shaved and he notified the police he was forced to undergo the first phase of training on how to carry out scams One such scam is known as pig butchering This type of scam began attracting attention in China around and is typically carried out by Chinese organized crime groups Scammers establish fake romantic and trusting relationships with casualties before luring them into fraudulent investments or other financial traps Pig-butchering scammers have stolen billions of dollars from casualties worldwide In one notable example from a banker from Kansas in the U S called Shan Hanes embezzled million from his bank to cover his losses after falling victim to a pig butchering scam Hanes was subsequently sentenced to more than years in prison So what do we know about how pig butchering scams work A pig butchering scam consists of three stages hunting raising and killing These stages correspond to scammers finding casualties online talking with them to build trust and then getting them to invest large amounts of money in fraudulent schemes There are particular similarities between a pig butchering scam and a traditional romance scam Scammers may as in a traditional scam approach their casualties by posing as a accomplishable romantic partner on a dating app or a friend on social media But the key difference lies in how the scam is executed In a traditional romance scam trust is based on the victim s desire to maintain a romantic relationship with the scammer Because of this traditional romance scams can sometimes last for years Pig butchering scams in comparison generally take place over a shorter time frame Rather than focusing on extracting money solely through emotional manipulation they lean heavily on the victim s desire to make money together with the scammer They often involve just a limited months of talking with the victim The scammers present themselves as financially prosperous and confident people with broad networks and attractive commitment opportunities Once a victim makes a small initial resources scammers rapidly escalate the process and push them into making much larger financial commitments In one example from a woman in the U S state of Connecticut called Jacqueline Crenshaw met a man on an online dating site He was posing as a widower with two children and frequently spoke with Crenshaw over the phone Within two months they began discussing investing in cryptocurrency Crenshaw sent him initially and received screenshots from him showing supposedly huge profits from the cryptocurrency expenditure The scammer soon encouraged Crenshaw to invest much more which ultimately led to her losing nearly million Organized crime groups Pig butchering scams are typically run by highly organized criminal groups These groups have management teams provide training to new recruits and often hire people as models who occasionally interact with casualties The Chinese administration has taken several measures to combat fraud in latest years It enacted the Anti-Telecom Fraud Law in which was designed specifically to prevent and punish the use of telecommunications and internet technologies to defraud individuals and organisations It was introduced in response to the growing prevalence of pig butchering scams in China The Chinese Ministry of Population Guard has also developed a mobile application called the National Anti-Fraud Center App The app allows the population to record scams and access real-time exposure alerts related to fraud Alongside the work of other regime departments it has helped intercept billion scam calls and billion fraudulent text messages since the beginning of The crackdown on fraud within China has made it more hard for criminal groups to operate domestically prompting a multitude of to relocate their bases abroad South-east Asian countries particularly Cambodia Laos and Myanmar have become a preferred destination for such groups Regions of northern Myanmar such as Kokang and Wa State have become breeding grounds for organized fraud over the past limited years Chinese is widely spoken in both of these areas and local customs closely resemble those in China This has been exacerbated by persistent corruption in territory line areas poor governance and instability The collapse of the illegal online gambling industry in south-east Asia following the pandemic has also led crime groups to search for new sources of revenue These conditions have together facilitated the proliferation of large-scale fraudulent operations Organized fraud has evolved into a key pillar of the local business sector in certain parts of south-east Asia The profits generated from online scams are estimated to amount to of the combined GDP of Cambodia Laos and Myanmar Criminal leaders have established tightly controlled compounds that serve as hubs for online scams with their primary sessions centered on pig butchering These compounds are frequently presented as tool parks which helps recruit workers However plenty of people are forced to work in the scam centers Pig butchering scams can inflict severe financial harm on casualties But are also closely tied to violent crime human trafficking and other forms of organized criminal activity They pose a growing threat to regional and global measure Bing Han is a lecturer in economic crime at the University of Portsmouth This article is republished from The Conversation The post Pig butchering scams have stolen billions from people around the world appeared first on MinnPost