Forced scamming
Forced scamming, also known as ‘pig butchering’, is where people are trafficked to scam people all over the world, often through crypto scams. IJM works with authorities to find and free trafficking victims.
The Economist recently highlighted IJM’s vital work in a special 8-part podcast investigation on forced scamming called 'Scam Inc'
What is forced scamming or 'pig butchering'?
People are trafficked and forced to scam people all over the world, often through crypto scams called ‘pig butchering’ or forced scamming.
'Online scamming, or pig-butchering, is growing fast - nobody is safe' - the Economist reports
Forced scamming - or pig-butchering - is one of the most complex and fastest-growing forms of modern slavery and human trafficking in the world.
People are tricked with legitimate looking job offers, trafficked and trapped in heavily-guarded compounds and forced to scam people under the threat of violence. IJM survivors have told us they have been threatened with electrocution if they did not hit their scamming targets.
New estimates reported in the Economist newspaper put online scamming on par with the illegal drugs trade as one of the world's most illicit industries where scammers can turn anyone into a potential victim.
IJM was one of the first NGOs on the ground working with authorities to bring victims of forced scamming to safety.
The new Economist podcast series 'Scam Inc' features Gavesh and Sarah's stories, survivors IJM has supported.
Interpol has said that forced scamming is now a global crisis "representing a serious and imminent threat to public safety."
IJM's work to stop this brutal new form of slavery has been reported in the new Economist 'Scam Inc' podcast, the BBC Three documentary 'Hunting the Catfish Crime Gang', ITV News and other major news outlets.
The online scamming industry is growing at an alarming rate
Forced scamming affects all of us - it's urgent we stop it.
Sarah*'s story, as featured on ITV News
Sarah was tricked with a false job offer, flown to Thailand and driven to the border with Myanmar where she was forced to scam people around the world, including in the UK.
She hated having to scam anyone and said that they made her target lonely people – she said men with AK-47s would control their work, and she witnessed horrific beatings that have left her with lasting trauma.
IJM teams supported Sarah as she found her way to freedom, and helped her to return home safely. [Image credit: ITV News]
“The people that you’re with have your life in their hands. I had to do everything those people told me to do.”
- Sarah, survivor of forced scamming
People like Sarah urgently need your help. Donate to help stop forced scamming now
How does pig-butchering - or forced scamming - work?
- A victim is recruited via a convincing fake job advert and trafficked into a heavily-guarded compound.
- Once at the compound, traffickers take the victim’s passport and phone. They are trapped and unable to leave.
- The victim is forced to conduct scams for up to 20 hours a day, six days a week.
- The victim often experiences extreme violence including electrocution or torture.
How widespread is the crime of pig-butchering or forced scamming?
- Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to be working in the scamming industry in South East Asia.
- Cambodia initially emerged as a primary hotspot for this crime, but exploitation has now been reported in Laos, Myanmar, Philippines – and further afield.
- 70+ different nationalities have been found in scamming compounds, reports IJM's Eric Heintz, for the Economist
- UNODC Cambodia estimates that forced scamming generates $7.5-12.5 billion in Cambodia
- Without proper victim identification, survivors may be arrested, charged, and convicted for criminal activities done under coercion.
- UK banks are also warning of huge increases in online scams (BBC).
- Interpol has issued a warning that forced scamming is a "global threat to public safety." (Interpol)
International Justice Mission (IJM) is one of the first organisations in the world taking action to stop forced scamming. We urgently need your help.
How is IJM tackling forced scamming?
IJM staff in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are on the frontlines, working with governments and foreign embassies to:
- help bring people to safety
- provide survivors with legal help, aftercare, and repatriation support
- hold traffickers to account
- protect people from being trafficked in the first place.
Thanks to the support of people like you, IJM has worked with authorities to help bring to safety, care for and/or support victim identification for over 350 survivors of forced scamming and has seen the first successful prosecutions of traffickers in the region
Last year, IJM helped secure three convictions of traffickers for forced scamming:
As IJM told The Guardian, “It’s one of the first convictions we’re aware of, so for [the main] perpetrator... to actually get a
four-year sentence, it starts to send the message that you can’t simply get away with this."
We urgently need your help to stop people being trafficked and forced to conduct scams. Donate now.
*IJM uses pseudonyms to protect survivors.