A sudden friendly message from a seemingly charming and successful stranger ... This seemingly pleasant encounter may be the beginning of a " scam " relationship scam. In recent years, the losses suffered by victims of scams around the world have reached hundreds of millions of dollars.
Behind the scammers' glamorous personalities is a dark criminal 'network': many online fraudsters are actually victims of human trafficking, forced to operate scams in Southeast Asia's heavily guarded prison-like parks.
The BBC International Channel's investigation revealed the inner workings of the fraud park and exclusively interviewed a former fraud group boss, who revealed the various tricks used by the pig-killing scammers to lure victims.
The deep and magnetic voice is the skill that " Xiao Zui " is most proud of. Whenever he gets on the phone with the target victims, they always obey and hand over the money. Xiao Zui does not want to be interviewed using his real name, but he is happy to share his secrets as a former professional scammer.
" pigs " in his mouth , and his goal is to " raise pigs " and eventually " kill pigs " , that is, to cultivate trust and feelings with the victims and guide them to recharge on the fake cryptocurrency investment platform. In the last step, he will squeeze every penny of the victims.
The rhetoric of the pig-killing scam
" No matter how things change, they all have one thing in 'common': emotion. Through emotion, you can make him trust you. " Xiao Zui from China is nearly 30 years old and he almost never puts down his cigarette. He wears fake Gucci pajamas and slippers and talks freely in a safe house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
He claimed that the fraud team he led had defrauded millions of dollars in recent years, and he even wrote a set of scam rhetoric to teach his subordinates how to lure victims step by step.
" In the process, you must lay the groundwork for the so-called heart-wrenching story with the client, " Xiao Zui said, " Women subconsciously feel distressed and want to use this so-called motherly love to care for you. " One of his common characters is a self-made, motivated and gentle corporate executive who was betrayed by his ex-wife, which won him the sympathy and trust of many female victims.
After exchanging messages, Xiao most often calls his scam victims and uses his voice to charm them. " In the terminology of our industry, this is called talk therapy. " Internet scammers like Xiao Zui are known as " dog pushers " in the industry . They often look for prey on dating websites, social media and chat software.
" The characters we usually use are very handsome, rich, responsible, and caring. " Xiao Zui said that these characters can be easily bought online or directly stolen from the social media of Internet celebrities. Sometimes, scammers will use artificial intelligence deep fake software to have video conversations with the victims of the scam to make the scam more convincing.
" I can make you feel like Andy Lau when you are in a video chat. The mouth shape is the same. There is a special software for this. " Eventually, the topic will turn to cryptocurrency investing.
" We carry out so-called dream-making, " Xiao Zui said, " For example, if the victim is from Beijing, we can tell the victim that we want to live together in Beijing, and a house in Beijing costs tens of millions. So, we should work together to make this money. " " Just a liar can change the entire trajectory of a person's life "
In January 2022 , a similar story touched " Joyce" in Beijing . At that time, the 35- year- old girl thought she had met a reliable partner online, who said he would move from Shanghai to Beijing to live with her. To protect her privacy, Joyce was interviewed under a pseudonym.
" He was a young entrepreneur and he was alone, " Joyce told the BBC . " I didn't think he was a liar at the time. "
The scammers claimed to have insider trading information and guided Joyce to recharge a fake investment platform, and also took the initiative to inject additional " funds " for her . From the platform's account book, Joyce seemed to have made a high profit. After she exhausted her savings, the scammers encouraged her to borrow money from the bank and apply for online loans.
" Looking back now, the state at that time was simply too crazy. I was really numb. It was as if money was not just a number. "
Joyce noticed something was wrong and tried to withdraw money from her " investment account " , she found that she couldn't withdraw cash at all.
She lost nearly 800,000 RMB in total, most of which was borrowed.
" That was the first time I saw my father cry ... My family thought he was so stupid that he didn't have any sense of defense, " Joyce recalled. " I broke down at that time and cried a lot. " If Joyce cannot repay her debts, China's social credit scoring system will list her as a dishonest person, which will seriously affect every aspect of her life. To repay her debts, Joyce works multiple part-time jobs, including live-streaming classical dance online.
" A good life can be changed by a liar. "
The "pig-killing" scam emerged in 2017. Initially, most of the victims were Chinese. However, in recent years, this type of scam has begun to go international, and more and more people in other parts of Asia and Europe and the United States have been deceived.
As the Chinese government cracks down on this scam in China, the fraud groups have shifted their focus to Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines. Recently, the fraud network seems to have extended further, developing bases in the UAE and Georgia.
The fraud group that Xiao Zui once participated in managing was located in Sihanoukville, a coastal city in Cambodia. Sihanoukville's endless white sand beaches were once a popular destination for tourists, but in recent years, a large number of real estate development projects, mainly casinos, have flooded the entire city. Fraud groups gradually gathered in Sihanoukville using casinos as a cover.
In Sihanoukville, Xiao Zui managed a 40 -member fraud team, including victims of human trafficking who were forced to commit fraud . " I have bought and sold people, " Xiao Zui said calmly. He said human trafficking is very common in the local online fraud industry.
All-night fraud and threats of violence
When " Brother " (pseudonym) learned that his selling price was 20,000 US dollars, he felt like a commodity on the shelf.
" They did it right in front of me ... you added and I subtracted, " the younger brother recalled. 30 -year -old brother used to work in an Internet cafe in China. In January 2022 , he decided to leave his hometown to work because he heard an acquaintance introduce a high-paying job in the gaming industry. What he didn't expect at the time was that he would be trafficked to a heavily guarded casino park in Sihanoukville and forced to deceive others online.
The BBC got in touch with his brother during his time in prison, and he secretly recorded his daily life in the fraud park.
" When I came here (the park leader) told me that if I tried to run, he would kill me, " my brother whispered in the diary video.
My younger brother said that the campus he was in was called " Huangle " and he was not allowed to step out of the campus. There were security guards at the exit of the campus, surveillance cameras were everywhere in the office, and iron bars were installed on the windows of the office building and dormitory building.
My younger brother said that he was assigned to an international pig-killing group, working 12 hours a day all night long, and sending private messages to 100 people in Europe and the United States online. If he fails to meet the target, he will have to work overtime and even face violence such as electric shocks and beatings.
" No one here cares about your life or death, they just want you to work hard to make money for them! " said the younger brother in the diary video.
The horrific abuses and harsh conditions at the Royal Garden were well known. In June 2022 , a Chinese man named Mi Lijun fell ill at the Royal Garden without receiving medical treatment. He was abandoned on the highway and died of organ failure a short time later.
My younger brother said that there are multiple fraud groups operating in the Royal Paradise area. In his company alone, there are hundreds of scammers engaged in illegal activities such as emotional scams, cryptocurrency scams, money laundering, etc. around the clock every day. They are almost all young men and women in their 20s and 30s from China and many Southeast Asian countries.
In recent months, thousands of young people like my brother have been deceived and forced to join the online fraud industry. Fraud groups use all means to obtain manpower. A victim of human trafficking told the BBC that he was kidnapped on the street and then sold to the fraud group. In Sihanoukville, there is even a saying that Chinese people are " walking US dollars " .
Even Xiao Zui was trafficked and abused. After he asked for a higher share of the profits, his boss had someone throw him to the ground and beat him.
“ At the time, I thought to myself, this time I’m done, I’m definitely going to die. ”
Xiao Zui finally saved his life, but he was beaten and bruised all over, and was sold to another fraud group. But he finally managed to escape.
Xiao Zui used to manage his " dog pushers " with fear , but now, he himself is also deeply tortured by fear.
" My former boss, if he catches me now, he will definitely kill me. " Xiao Zui said that he now regrets what he has done.
" I actually hate this industry. Many clients cried bitterly after being cheated. " He said that from now on he just wants to live a simple life.
After being imprisoned for four months, my brother sent a farewell message to the BBC . " I really don't want to hurt anyone ... I really can't hold on any longer ... I'm saying goodbye to you for the last time. " He then disappeared from the Internet for several hours. When he finally came back online, he sent an exciting 'message': " I escaped. "
When my brother decided to jump from the campus building, it was about four o'clock in the morning, which was the meal time for the fraud group. It was raining outside, and the night and the sound of rain became his best cover.
The younger brother found a gap between two air conditioner units on the third floor of the dormitory, which was just big enough for him to squeeze through.
" I didn't care about anything else and just jumped down ... It hurt so much when I fell down that I couldn't walk at all. "
He landed on the grass outside the park, then crawled all the way to the road and stopped a taxi. His brother gave the driver $ 100 , which was almost all the money he had. He asked the driver to stay away from the park and go forward.
Most of the fraud groups seem to be operating online scams in heavily guarded industrial parks, where the owners have close ties with the political and business elite.
the BBC confirmed that the owner of the Royal Paradise area is Cambodian businessman Huang Jimao ( Li Kuong ).
Huang Jimao's business empire includes real estate, casinos, hotels and construction companies. He was named " Lord " , the highest title bestowed by the Cambodian king on civilians. He has been photographed attending official events and private gatherings with several senior officials.
Despite ample evidence of labor trafficking, abuse and online fraud at the Royal Park, no one has been arrested or charged with any crime so far. We raised these allegations with the park's owner, Huang Jimao, but he did not respond . We also contacted the Westport police to ask why they did not take any action against the group in the Royal Garden area. They also did not respond.
Xiao Zui and his brother eventually returned to China safely, but tens of thousands of scammers are still operating the pig-killing scheme, looking for their next " pig " .