In recent years, people around the world have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in an online scam scheme known as the “pig fight” scam, which uses fake online personals ads to blackmail victims through fake investments.
But behind the social media profiles and psychological manipulation lies an even darker reality many of the scammers are victims of human trafficking and are forced to operate the scam from prisonlike complexes in Southeast Asia.
A BBC World Service investigation revealed what life is like in these complexes and heard from the former leader of one of the gangs about the sophisticated tactics they use to lure their victims.
At the same time, BBC News Brasil spoke to one of more than 10 Brazilians who were misled with false job offers, trafficked to Myanmar and held for months in a slaverylike situation under the programme.
1 of 6 In the ‘Slaughter of the Pig’ scam, victims who scammers call ‘pigs’ are ‘slaughtered’ after being subjected to severe emotional manipulation — Photo: BBC who call scammers ‘pigs’ — are subjected to severe emotional manipulation ” slaughtered” — Photo: BBC 2 of 6 Patrick was lured by a fake job offer in Thailand and smuggled into Myanmar — Photo: BBC Patrick was lured by a fake job offer in Thailand and smuggled into Myanmar — Photo: BBC
Patrick ended up in Thailand in July 2022 for what he thought was a good job offer at a call center in Bangkok. But as soon as he entered the airport, he began to suspect the intentions of his new bosses.
Carioca, 25, was traveling with a friend who was approached about the job offer on Instagram and decided to invite him to join her.
“Less than three days after they accepted the job, they already bought us a ticket and we got on,” he says.
But when they arrived at their promised destination, the friends were packed into a car and forcefully driven to a town on the Myanmar border. There they found a gigantic complex that had been taken over by illegal companies.
Located in Myawaddy County, the place, which resembles an artificial city, is just one of the bases of criminals running the “pig slaughtering” scam in Southeast Asia.
“It was like a fortress, a huge place surrounded by walls and a lot of armed people,” describes Patrick. According to the Brazilian, the victims slept there, had their meals and were forced to use fraud.
“When they took us to work, we really found out what it was all about — an illegal scheme to create fake profiles and conduct cyber fraud,” he says.
“And you just didn’t have the option of not working.”
Patrick’s account is similar to that of other victims found by the BBC World Service investigation: Victims of human trafficking are not allowed to leave the complexes and are forced to work up to 15 hours a day under threat of torture and physical harm.
“They put people in prison and torture them until they are released. Or they hit with sticks, punches and kicks.”
The Brazilian claims he was never physically attacked by the foremen who organized the coup, but says he was forced to work with financial threats those who refused to carry out the coups were left without a small allowance, which used to maintain the bases of the coup was power within the complex.
But after about four months, Patrick and nine other Brazilians detained in Myanmar were released after negotiations between the Foreign Ministry and the Burmese authorities and the rebels who control part of the country.
3 of 6 Photos and video taken by Patrick from inside the complex — Photo: Personal Archive/Via BBC Photos and video taken by Patrick from inside the complex — Photo: Personal Archive/Via BBC
“I started filming and recording what happened inside with a hidden cell phone. I sent everything to my mother in Brazil and after a while we got the message that we were going to be released.”
The pictures taken by Patrick were supplied by his family to a television station in Brazil and shortly thereafter the federal police and Interpol became involved in the case.
But that’s not all. After being released from the Myanmar compound, the Brazilians had to spend several days in a police station before Brazilian authorities could locate and take them back.
“She [os criminosos] They promised to take us back to Thailand, but they basically handed us over to the rebels,” says Patrick.
“We were in a cell with 40 other people for a week without seeing sunlight. When we were finally found, we drove 13 hours by bus across Myanmar to Thailand.”
He returned to Brazil but still carries the trauma of that time to this day. “It was hell staying in this compound. I went to sleep every day not knowing if I would wake up,” he says. “I started smoking three packs of cigarettes a day because I had never smoked before.”
Patrick says he lost more than 10 kilos in the four months he was unjustly imprisoned and saw his health deteriorate.
“When I arrived in Brazil, I developed posttraumatic stress. At first I had some outbursts, my whole body was shaking and I couldn’t stop crying.”
“But I’m feeling a little better now.”
the coup d’état
When Xiaozui worked as a con artist, he considered his deep, hoarse voice to be his greatest asset. When he talks to his victims on the phone, he says he can make them do anything.
He called his victims “pigs” and his aim was to “fatten them up” and eventually “slaughter them”.
4 of 6 Xiaozui worked in the fraud industry for four years — Photo: BBC Xiaozui worked in the fraud industry for four years — Photo: BBC
The terms used by the scammers describe the strategy employed and taught to all involved to maintain a romantic relationship with the victims before tricking them into investing as much money as possible in fake cryptocurrency investment schemes.
“The key to the pig slaughter program is emotion,” Xiaozui, a Chineseborn man in his late 20s, told the BBC from a hideout in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh.
Xiaozui looks relaxed in his fake Gucci pajamas and slippers, always balancing a cigarette between his lips or fingers. He says his operation has stolen thousands of dollars over the years and he even wrote a manual to teach others how to lure potential victims.
“In my guide, scammers have to invent a touching story to trigger ‘mother love,'” he says.
One of his favorite profiles was pretending to be a businessman cheated on by his exwife. He says the profile has garnered a lot of sympathy from his female victims.
After exchanging messages, Xiaozui would often pick up the phone and charm his targets with his voice. “In our industry, we call it ‘word therapy,'” he says.
Scammers like Xiaozui are called “dogs” in the internal language of the scam. They often find their prey on dating sites, social networks, and messaging apps.
“Our profile is usually someone who is handsome, rich, and thoughtful,” Xiaozui explains, adding that all the images they used were bought online or stolen by social media influencers.
He says that in some cases, scammers even use deepfake software to video chat with their targets by pretending to be the people in the profiles, making the scam more convincing.
Finally, the conversation shifts from everyday matters to an investment opportunity in cryptocurrency stocks.
“You create a dream,” says Xiaozui.
“For example, if my target lives in Beijing, I would tell them I want to live with them in Beijing. But an apartment there costs millions of dollars, so we have to work hard to make money.”
According to Patrick, the coup was divided into several phases: the identification of the victims, the initial phase in which the supposed relationship came about, and finally the blackmail through bad investments.
He says that in the early stages of the program, Brazilians had to act to look for profiles that could potentially be fooled and collect their data.
“Our task was to get basic information about the victims: name, place of residence, what they like to do and whether they have money or not,” says Patrick. “But I purposely chose profiles that I knew were going nowhere because I never wanted to cheat anyone.”
“My family blamed me”
It was such a scam that Joyce was tricked into in January 2022. The 36yearold Chinese office worker thought she’d met a romantic partner online. He said he was moving from Shanghai to Beijing to live with her.
5 of 6 Joyce tries to recoup her losses by streaming online dancing — Photo: BBC Joyce tries to recoup her losses by streaming online dancing — Photo: BBC
“He seemed like a lonely, hardworking person living in a big city. Just like me,” Joyce told the BBC.
“I never thought it was a scammer.”
Joyce was persuaded to put money into an investment account and then led to believe she made a profit from it. After she used up all her savings, the scammer encouraged her to take out loans so she could keep investing.
When she became suspicious and tried to withdraw the money from the “investment plan” she was unsuccessful.
She lost more than $100,000 in total, most of it on loans. “It was the first time I saw my father cry. My family accused me of being stupid. I started crying,” she says.
If Joyce defaults on her loans, she could be blacklisted from China’s social credit system, which will affect every aspect of her life.
Since then, she has taken side jobs to earn extra income, including classical dance performances on live internet streaming platforms.
thriving business
The Pig Slaughter scam originally targeted individuals in China around 2017. But it has since gone global, claiming victims in Asia, Europe and North America.
Chinese authorities managed to crack down on the cyber intrigues within their borders, but fraudulent operations resumed in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines.
The chain appears to have expanded even beyond Asia recently, with new operations in the United Arab Emirates and Georgia.
The illegal company run by Xiaozui was headquartered in the Cambodian coastal city of Sihanoukville, popular with tourists for its white sandy beaches.
However, in recent years the region has also developed a huge casino business, much of which is used as fronts by online scam gangs.
In Sihanoukville, Xiaozui led a team of 40 scammers, including some who were trafficked and forced to work.
6 of 6 Huang Le Complex in Cambodia — Photo: BBC Huang Le Complex in Cambodia — Photo: BBC
“I’ve bought and sold people,” Xiaozui says, adding that human trafficking is common in the industry.
“walking dollars”
Didi was one of those trafficked by another group in Sihanoukville.
“The dealers even negotiated my price in front of me,” he says, who claims it cost $20,000 (R$103,000).
The 30yearold former internet café employee left China in January 2022 for what he believes to be a wellpaying online gaming job.
Instead, it was taken to a walled casino complex called Huang Le in Sihanoukville and forced to lure potential victims of online fraud.
The BBC team got in touch with Didi while he was trapped at the compound and he began broadcasting videos about his situation on a daily basis.
“They told me that if I tried to escape, they would kill me,” Didi whispers in one of the videos, secretly recorded in her dorm bathroom.
He had to work 12 hours a day and contact at least 100 people online every day in Europe and the USA. If he failed to provide results, he faced punishment, including electrocution and beatings.
There are thousands of other young men and women like Didi who have been scammed by the cyber scam industry. Another former scammer told the BBC he was kidnapped off the street and taken to one of the scam complexes.
The extortion of Chinese workers is so well known in Sihanoukville that some refer to it as “walking dollars.”
Even Xiaozui, deputy head of a fraudulent company, eventually fell out of favor with the gangs. He was beaten after asking for a raise.
He says that after being sold to another gang, he fled, but that if his old boss found him, he would be killed.
Xiaozui says he regrets: “I actually hate this industry. I heard the desperate screams of the victims. I just want to live a normal life now.”
After four months of imprisonment, Didi sent us a farewell message: “I can’t take it anymore… I don’t want to hurt anyone… bye.”
It went offline for half a day, but eventually reappeared with a hopeful message: “I’m safe out there.”
He escaped the premises that night after finding a small hole in the wall where one of the air conditioners was hanging. He jumped out of a third floor window and managed to get a cab to get away.
The BBC has been able to locate the owner of the Huang Le complex in Cambodia, businessman Kuong Li.
Li’s business empire includes real estate, casinos, hotels and construction. He was honored as “Oknha”, the highest title bestowed on civilians by the King of Cambodia, and was photographed alongside prominent Cambodian officials at public and private events.
Despite overwhelming evidence of human trafficking, physical abuse and fraudulent operations taking place at Huang Le’s compound, no one has been arrested or charged with a crime.
The BBC brought these allegations to Kuong Li, but he did not respond to attempts to contact him.
Sihanoukville police were also asked why nothing was done about those operating at Huang Le’s compound. There was also no feedback.
Like Patrick, Xiaozui and Didi managed to escape, but tens of thousands of scammers continue to operate the “slaughterthepig” scheme.
Photography by Natalia Zuo. Additional reporting by Natalia Zuo and Jake Tacchi
*Some interviewees’ names have been changed to protect their identities.
Watch the original documentary produced by BBC Eye