"Federal prosecutors have seized $15 billion from the alleged kingpin of an operation that used imprisoned laborers to trick unsuspecting people into making investments in phony funds, often after spending months faking romantic relationships with the victims. Such " pig butchering" scams have operated for years. They typically work when members of the operation initiate conversations with people on social media and then spend months messaging them. Often, the scammers pose as attractive individuals who feign romantic interest for the victim."
"In many cases, the scammers are trafficked and held against their will in compounds surrounded by fences and barbed wire. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Chen Zhi, the founder and chairman of a multinational business conglomerate based in Cambodia. It alleged that Zhi led such a forced-labor scam operation, which, with the help of unnamed co-conspirators, netted billions of dollars from victims."
Federal prosecutors seized $15 billion tied to an alleged forced-labor cryptocurrency fraud operation. The operation used imprisoned laborers who spent months feigning romantic relationships to gain victims' trust. Scammers initiated contact on social media, posed as attractive individuals, and spent extended periods messaging victims before promoting phony investment funds. The scheme sought large bitcoin transfers from victims. Many scammers were trafficked and confined in compounds surrounded by fences and barbed wire. An indictment alleges Chen Zhi designed compounds, maintained documents about phone farms, procured millions of mobile numbers and passwords, and oversaw construction of the Golden Fortune compound.
Read at Ars Technica
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