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He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive:
A source trapped inside an industrial-scale scamming operation contacted me, determined to expose his captors’ crimes—and then escape. This is his story.
wired.com/story/he-leaked-the-…

"“Hello. I’m currently working inside a major crypto romance scam operation based in the Golden Triangle,” it began. “... I want to help shut this down.”

#Cryptocurrency #Crypto #Fraud #Tech #Technology #AI #News #Press #World

Headline from Wired: He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive A source trapped inside an industrial-scale scamming operation contacted me, determined to expose his captors’ crimes—and then escape. This is his story. by Andy Greenberg The Big Story Jan 27, 2026 6:00 AM
#tech #AI #world #technology #News #Crypto #fraud #cryptocurrency #press
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️

Zhi Zhu 🕸️
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Zhi Zhu 🕸️
• •

"as a reporter who has covered #cryptocurrency #crime for the past decade and a half, I understood that #crypto scamming—specifically the version of it that’s come to be known as “pig butchering,” in which victims are lured with promises of #romance and lucrative investments, only to be tricked into handing over their life savings—has become the most profitable form of #cybercrime in the world, pulling in tens of billions of dollars annually."
wired.com/story/he-leaked-the-…

#Tech #Technology #News

#tech #technology #News #crime #Crypto #cryptocurrency #Cybercrime #romance
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️

Zhi Zhu 🕸️
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Zhi Zhu 🕸️
• •

"This sprawling scam industry is, today, staffed by hundreds of thousands of forced laborers... They’re trafficked there from the poorest regions of #Asia and #Africa and pressed into the service of #Chinese organized #crime groups....

laborers are beaten, tortured with electric shock batons, starved, and even murdered by their captors.... Never before... had I heard of someone currently working within a #scam compound offering to act as a #whistleblower"
wired.com/story/he-leaked-the-…

#World #News

Text (edited for length): “I’ve collected internal evidence of how the scam works—step by step,” the message continued. “I am still inside the compound, so I cannot risk direct exposure. But I want to help shut this down.” ...as a reporter who has covered cryptocurrency crime for the past decade and a half, I understood that crypto scamming—specifically the version of it that’s come to be known as “pig butchering,” in which victims are lured with promises of romance and lucrative investments, only to be tricked into handing over their life savings—has become the most profitable form of cybercrime in the world, pulling in tens of billions of dollars annually. This sprawling scam industry is, today, staffed by hundreds of thousands of forced laborers... trafficked there from the poorest regions of Asia and Africa and pressed into the service of Chinese organized crime groups. The result is a self-­perpetuating, constantly growing, globe-spanning money funnel that destroys lives on both ends—bankrupting one kind of victim, enslaving another. I had read harrowing reports of scam compounds where laborers are beaten, tortured with electric shock batons, starved, and even murdered by their captors. Those stories have mostly come from the rare survivors who have escaped or been rescued by law enforcement. Never before, though, had I heard of someone currently working within a scam compound offering to act as a whistleblower—an actual source on the inside.
#chinese #world #News #africa #asia #crime #Whistleblower #scam
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️

Zhi Zhu 🕸️
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Zhi Zhu 🕸️
• •

"First, the source sent carefully prepared documents: a flowchart and then a written guide that described the scam processes of the compound... described every step in the compound’s work: creating fake #Facebook and #Instagram profiles; using hired models and #AI #deepfake tools to complete the illusion of a real romantic prospect; tricking victims into “investing” in fake trading platforms"
wired.com/story/he-leaked-the-…

#Cryptocurrency #Crypto #Crime #Scam #Fraud #Tech #Technology #News #Press

Text(edited for length): That night, after my kids were asleep, the Signal messages began to light up my phone. First, the source sent carefully prepared documents: a flowchart and then a written guide that described the scam processes of the compound in northern Laos. (I’d come to learn that the Golden Triangle—once the American nickname for a vast hotbed of opium and heroin production—now mainly refers to a city-size Laotian “special economic zone” bordering Myanmar and Thailand and largely controlled by Chinese business interests.) The two write-ups described every step in the compound’s work: creating fake Facebook and Instagram profiles; using hired models and AI deepfake tools to complete the illusion of a real romantic prospect; tricking victims into “investing” in fake trading platforms they recommended. It even detailed the small gong that would be struck in the office when someone pulled off a successful scam. I had barely had time to skim these detailed descriptions... when my phone rang, just after midnight. I picked up the Signal call. A polite Indian-accented voice said, “Hello.” “What do I call you?” I asked. “You can call me any name, brother, no matter,” the voice said with a shy laugh. I insisted that I’d need a name for him, even if he just wanted to make one up on the spot. “You can call me Red Bull,” he said. Months later, he would tell me that he’d been looking at an empty can of the energy drink as we spoke.
#tech #AI #technology #News #Facebook #Instagram #crime #Crypto #fraud #cryptocurrency #deepfake #scam #press
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️

Zhi Zhu 🕸️
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Zhi Zhu 🕸️
• •

"Red Bull explained that he’d tried reaching out to #US and Indian #law enforcement agencies and Interpol, as well as the tip lines for a few #news outlets, but no one had responded other than me. He asked me to tell him more about myself—and then cut me off as soon as I’d said two sentences about my work covering #crypto #crime.

“So you are the person I share everything with,” he said hurriedly. “And you will help me to expose this, right?”"
wired.com/story/he-leaked-the-…

#Journalism #Press #Media

#News #crime #Media #Crypto #US #Law #journalism #press
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️

Zhi Zhu 🕸️
mastodon - Link to source
Zhi Zhu 🕸️
• •

"Red Bull’s situation was not precisely the brutal modern #slavery I had read about elsewhere. It was more like a 👉 grotesque parody of a #corporate sales floor.👈 In theory, the staffers were incentivized with commissions designed to create the illusion that they could get rich from hard work. In reality, they were kept in perpetual debt and servitude.... The result was that he had virtually no income"
wired.com/story/he-leaked-the-…

#Jobs #HumanTrafficking #News #World #Business #Technology #Tech

Text (edited for length): ...He was in his early twenties and had a diploma in computer engineering, he said. Like most of his coworkers, Red Bull had been tricked by a fake job offer—in his case, to work as an IT manager for an office in Laos. Then his passport had been taken from him by his Chinese bosses. He was forced to sleep in a dormitory room with five other men and work 15 hours at a time ... Red Bull’s situation was not precisely the brutal modern slavery I had read about elsewhere. It was more like a grotesque parody of a corporate sales floor. In theory, the staffers were incentivized with commissions designed to create the illusion that they could get rich from hard work. In reality, they were kept in perpetual debt and servitude. Red Bull told me he was paid a base salary of 3,500 Chinese yuan a month, close to $500, but the money was almost entirely taken from him by daily fines for various infractions... The result was that he had virtually no income and subsisted off the food in the cafeteria, mostly rice and vegetables... He was bound into this system by a one-year contract, and believed when that time was over—in about six more months—he’d be allowed to leave. So far, he told me, he hadn’t successfully scammed anyone, only skated by with the minimum number of plausible attempts. That meant he was still essentially captive unless he escaped, served out his time, or paid off his contract with thousands of dollars he didn’t have.
#tech #world #technology #News #business #slavery #jobs #corporate #HumanTrafficking
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