The Scam Inc podcast from the Economist was very interesting. You need an Economist subscription, unfortunately.
Amazing how much infrastructure is built up to support these operations.
A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
71–80 of 158 posts
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#72Are there not some more direct interventions? I know of a building housing one of these. Obviously they pay the local police and have cover so just filing a complaint or whatever is not an option.
Well yes, I believe some interventions happened awhile ago in Myanmar in the form of war between factions.
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#73I have a family member falling for these on a regular basis. In their case it’s possibly tied to mental health issues. They are able to drive, converse, care for self, but are sending money to groups that are clearly not real (example: fundraiser for a celebrity supposedly in the hospital, when news shows they weren’t. Was convinced actually conversing with the celebrity). Rest of the family has taken some steps but…
Sounds like some form of guardianship/conservatorship is in order. Talk to a lawyer, if you haven't already (maybe that's what you mean by finances are already segregated).
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#74I got sucked into reading this paper, and it has completely changed my perception of these scams. They are incredibly thorough and realistic. Here are some quotes that drove this home for me. "The bond phase showed that scammers had tremendous patience; this phase lasted anywhere from 3 to 11 months before the scammer moved on to the next stage of the scam." "When I spoke to her on a video call, it was the same perso…
I saw a YouTube who had planted a mole inside one of these farms. Each guy ran something like 10 WhatsApp on his PC and when needed they had girls in a waiting room “on call” to do FaceTime.
Was it Jim Browning’s video? [0] (WhatsApp screencast starts at 5:42 [1])
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#75Estimated $75 billion stolen since 2020. These are mostly cryptocurrency investment scams. More crypto regulation would help, but the so-called crypto industry doesn't want to see that happen because their product has no other utility than enabling this stuff.
I doubt that, it seems the investment websites used are entirely fake, they probably just use crypto because it's well known and sounds good to many people. They might however just as well promote fake investments in stocks or something else.
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#76Are there not some more direct interventions? I know of a building housing one of these. Obviously they pay the local police and have cover so just filing a complaint or whatever is not an option.
Well yes, I believe some interventions happened awhile ago in Myanmar in the form of war between factions.
Was that not just a power grab?
There is a more recent conflict over this issue in Cambodia.
I'm thinking more targeted interventions. International organizations and so on.
Failing that, maybe accidentally short the xformer supplying the building...
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#77If they’re paying out ”bait gains”, aren’t these just ponzis like Bernie Madoff?
They usually dont pay out anything. It's just target's "investment account" value grows until they want to withdraw. Obviously some scammers can even pay something at first, but it's just not usual strategy.
In the article it says some victims were allowed to withdraw small amounts, and one says he got it as a gift card. So that's where all those gift cards from the email scams go...
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#78Are there not some more direct interventions? I know of a building housing one of these. Obviously they pay the local police and have cover so just filing a complaint or whatever is not an option.
The article states than an estimated 75 billion dollars have been lost since 2020, the corruption goes way beyond local cops, and in Myanmar probably involves the government directly. Whole cities are being built for scamming.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/sep/08/m...
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#79Didn't know the meaning of "pig-butchering scam", so I took it at its front value and was a bit confused.
Same here (I am French, so the language is yet another barrier). I thought this was about viral actions by extreme ecologists that get into butchering companies and expose how the animals suffer. And I thought - "these are scams?" But hey, everything is possible. And then got to the comments and learned a few things :) The article is very good and the comments as well.
A croire que c'est un problème de compréhension uniquement chez nous autres pauvres Français !
Re: A qualitative analysis of pig-butchering scams
#80Estimated $75 billion stolen since 2020. These are mostly cryptocurrency investment scams. More crypto regulation would help, but the so-called crypto industry doesn't want to see that happen because their product has no other utility than enabling this stuff.
I doubt that, it seems the investment websites used are entirely fake, they probably just use crypto because it's well known and sounds good to many people. They might however just as well promote fake investments in stocks or something else.
Yeah, the crypto is the hook. They don't have to do any trading once you've moved the money (but they do obviously want to show via UI that you're making bank and that you could/should go bigger)