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Aren't these spots popular for running pig butchering scams? I don't know why BBC article didn't explicitly say this.

gpvos 2y ago
TIL something: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam (I knew about the concept, just hadn't encountered the name.)
rob74 2y ago
Well, they do say it, however they use a lot more words to do it: > We were able to speak to a young woman who had been working in one of the scam centres a couple of weeks before our visit. She had not enjoyed it and been allowed to leave. Her job, she said, was as part of the modelling team, made up mostly of attractive young women, who contact potential victims and try to build an intimate online relationship with them. "The target is the elderly," she said. "You start a conversation like 'oh you look just like one of my friends'. Once you make friends you encourage them by sending pictures of yourself, sometimes wearing your night clothes." Then, she explains, the conversation moves to get-rich-quick schemes, such as crypto investments, with the women claiming that's how they made a lot of money. "When they feel close to you, you pass them on to the chatting section," she says. "The chatting people will continue messaging with the client, persuading them to buy shares in the crypto company."
walrus01 2y ago
Pig butchering among many other variations, like sextortion, fake FBI agent, advance fee fraud, fake real estate rental fraud, there's a whole myriad in their playbook.
rsynnott 2y ago
Most people aren't familiar with the term, so it'll just be confusing. They do describe such a scam.
rhymeswithjazz 2y ago
I can't remember if it was specifically about Shwe Kokko but Search Engine did an episode about a city with compounds like these. https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/whos-behind-these-scammy-text-messages https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/whos-behind-these-scammy-text-...
tiagod 2y ago
>The latter are also known as "pig butchering" scams, named after the farming practice of fattening pigs before slaughtering them.

TIL something: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_butchering_scam (I knew about the concept, just hadn't encountered the name.)

rob74 2y ago

Well, they do say it, however they use a lot more words to do it: > We were able to speak to a young woman who had been working in one of the scam centres a couple of weeks before our visit. She had not enjoyed it and been allowed to leave. Her job, she said, was as part of the modelling team, made up mostly of attractive young women, who contact potential victims and try to build an intimate online relationship with them. "The target is the elderly," she said. "You start a conversation like 'oh you look just like one of my friends'. Once you make friends you encourage them by sending pictures of yourself, sometimes wearing your night clothes." Then, she explains, the conversation moves to get-rich-quick schemes, such as crypto investments, with the women claiming that's how they made a lot of money. "When they feel close to you, you pass them on to the chatting section," she says. "The chatting people will continue messaging with the client, persuading them to buy shares in the crypto company."

walrus01 2y ago

Pig butchering among many other variations, like sextortion, fake FBI agent, advance fee fraud, fake real estate rental fraud, there's a whole myriad in their playbook.

rsynnott 2y ago

Most people aren't familiar with the term, so it'll just be confusing. They do describe such a scam.

rhymeswithjazz 2y ago

I can't remember if it was specifically about Shwe Kokko but Search Engine did an episode about a city with compounds like these. https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/whos-behind-these-scammy-text-messages https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/whos-behind-these-scammy-text-...

tiagod 2y ago

>The latter are also known as "pig butchering" scams, named after the farming practice of fattening pigs before slaughtering them.