Chinese Crime Syndicate Operating Modern Slavery in Southeast Asia
Posing as Young Women to Approach Victims
"70-80% of Victims Fall for Fake Love"
A 54-year-old man, Mr. A, living in San Francisco, California, USA, received a message via WhatsApp in October 2021 from a Chinese woman. Introducing herself as 'Jessica,' the woman pretended to be close to Mr. A, claiming they had met before. Although Mr. A had no memory of meeting her, he continued chatting and gradually grew closer to her.
Jessica shared photos of her luxurious lifestyle in New York, and Mr. A confided in her about the difficulties of caring for his sick father. A few weeks later, Jessica encouraged Mr. A to invest in cryptocurrency to cover his father's medical expenses. Mr. A began investing, and the initial returns were astonishing. He believed he was making hundreds of thousands of dollars through cryptocurrency. However, one day while continuing his investments, Mr. A's cryptocurrency account was suddenly locked, and over one million dollars disappeared. Mr. A had fallen victim to a financial scam orchestrated by a Chinese criminal organization using human trafficking.
Recently, a crime method involving disguising as young women to lure victims into investing in fake cryptocurrency platforms has been rampant worldwide, requiring caution. On the 27th (local time), CNN reported on the fraudulent activities of Chinese criminal organizations operating modern-day slavery in Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, stealing money from people around the world.
The crime method is simple. The organization members approach victims disguised as young women, befriend them, and then coax them into investing in fake cryptocurrency platforms. They initially show high returns to encourage victims to keep investing. However, the invested money eventually disappears along with the organization members. The process of deceiving victims resembles slowly fattening pigs before slaughter, so this scam is also called the 'pig slaughter scam.'
The FBI pointed out that the scale of this scam, which was $970 million (about 1.1 trillion KRW) in 2020, has tripled to $2.9 billion (about 3.7 trillion KRW) by November this year. Notably, the scammers deceiving victims are not young women but modern-day slaves trafficked and confined in camps. The Chinese criminal group has built massive buildings in eastern Myanmar and other areas for organized crime, luring thousands with promises of jobs and imprisoning them there. The group reportedly forces them to steal millions of dollars through cryptocurrency.
Rakesh (alias, 33), from India, is also one of the victims. A chemical engineer, he came to Bangkok, Thailand, in December last year, lured by the promise of an office job at an IT company. However, the driver who picked him up at the airport took him to Mae Sot city on the Thailand-Myanmar border instead of an office in Bangkok. Taken to a building in Myanmar surrounded by 3-meter walls and watchtowers, he was immediately confiscated of his passport and forced to sign a contract stating he would become a professional scammer. When he refused to sign, Rakesh was thrown into a prison-like place without food or water. After three days there, he signed the contract to survive.
The organization disguised him as 'Clara Semonov,' a woman living in Salt Lake City, USA. His task was to continuously contact Americans, British, Brazilians, and Mexicans during their waking hours. When victims were ready to invest, the contact network was handed over to team leaders and others. Rakesh said, "70-80% of (potential victims) fall in fake love." He added that those who failed to deceive enough victims were punished with hundreds of push-ups or beaten with electric rods.
Meanwhile, CNN analyzed that the Chinese criminal organization exploited situations such as the Myanmar civil war to carry out these transnational scams. Since the military coup in February 2021, Myanmar has experienced deteriorating security, with extreme chaos in outlying areas where not only online scams but also drug trafficking organizations are rampant. However, CNN pointed out that the Myanmar military government has taken almost no measures to prevent human trafficking.
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