Summary
Highlights
Southeast Asia's scam centers are a secretive and deadly enterprise, where failure to meet targets can lead to torture worse than any horror movie. Thousands are working in prison-like compounds, trafficked and forced into cyber slavery, enduring starvation, tasering, and chaining. Ransom payments are often the only way out for victims.
Tai Chong, also known as Mountain View, is highlighted as one of the worst compounds for human rights violations and torture. Located across the border from Thailand in Myanmar, this rapidly expanding compound is described as 'hell on Earth,' run by Chinese Mafia and supported by militias. It operates in plain sight yet is 'untouchable'.
The scam centers primarily run dating and relationship scams, using various platforms to build trust with victims in other countries. They then encourage these victims to invest in fake cryptocurrency schemes, exploiting them until all their money is gone. The UN estimates hundreds of thousands are involved in these fraud factories.
The investigation gains rare access to Yati New City in Coco, Myanmar, a sprawling frontier of compounds that appears like a 'little China' with Mandarin signs and Chinese inhabitants. Despite claims of being a 'normal town,' suspicion is high, and the city's founder has been sanctioned for links to scam centers and human trafficking.
The team goes undercover in Bavet, Cambodia, a new hub for scam centers on the border with Vietnam. They meet a former romance scammer, Pum Dry, who reveals how he was lured, detained, and tortured in a compound after being accused of stealing. Another victim, Ben, recounts being tased with electroshock weapons for five minutes as punishment.
The investigation successfully infiltrates a scam compound in Bavet by posing as job seekers. Recruiters openly discuss 'pig butchering' scams, targeting countries like Bangladesh, and admit to bribing police. They are taken to a job interview with 'the boss' and shown the accommodation and secretive scam rooms, filled with workers operating multiple phones to defraud victims worldwide.
The human cost of the scam industry is immense, with stories like Cher's brother, Chia, who died falling from a compound. While some scammers are willingly involved, others are desperate victims themselves. Despite growing awareness and some efforts by China, prosecutions are rare, and the industry continues to boom, becoming a global trafficking crisis with millions of victims. Compound operators and the Cambodian government did not respond to requests for comment.