The crypto industry offers endless innovation and financial opportunities, but it has become a breeding ground for elaborate scams. From Ponzi schemes to fraudulent exchanges, bad actors exploit the anonymity of digital assets and lack of regulation to deceive unsuspecting victims. One of the most orchestrated and savagely carried-out frauds in the world today is known as the pig butchering scam. This operation is also located in Kayin State, Myanmar, and particularly in KK Park, right near the Thai-Myanmar border. It combines cryptocurrency fraud with human trafficking and forced labor to defraud victims worldwide. Since 2022, these scam operations have stolen over $100 million, while keeping a sizable number of human beings in captivity under terrible conditions.
The Myawaddy pig butchering crypto scam is an elaborate scheme that deceives people from around the world with high-paying fake job offers, promising paid flights and visas, only to kidnap them upon arrival to Myawaddy. The victims are held captive in a compound controlled by organized crime groups and are eventually forced to scam others through various methods, such as romance and investment schemes. Although U.S., Thai, and Chinese authorities have attempted to put a stop to it, the scam keeps going, driven by weak law enforcement, corruption, and the use of cryptocurrencies like Tether (USDT) to launder money. This article explains the function of the operation, the repercussions for victims and trafficked workers, and the difficulties of terminating the operation.
What is the Myawaddy Pig Butchering Crypto Scam?
The area around the town of Myawaddy in Myanmar has developed into a well-known base for cyber scams, especially the "pig butchering" schemes. These operations are mostly run by Chinese criminal syndicates that work together with local armed groups. The main group involved is the Karen National Army, formerly known as the Karen BGF, and some factions have split off from it. People attracted to these scam centers are usually young professionals. They are drawn in by high-salary job offers and recruited via social media and online job portals into what seem to be legitimate industries, like customer service or IT. They arrive and find themselves compound-bound and scam-bound, working under the threat of violence. The recruitment process is deceptive, but with many people having the alternative of unemployment, it’s clear why people fall for the scam.
Real-Life Accounts from Victims
Haunting detail surrounds the story of Nguyen, a Vietnamese man who was lured by a fake job offer. He was exported to a compound in Myanmar's Myawaddy region and there forced to participate in a major scam known as "pig butchering." These scams involve building fake online relationships to commandeer their victims' money. Nguyen and others worked long hours under very tight deadlines, and if they didn't meet those deadlines, they were physically abused. Exiting the compound was difficult enough, but for those who tried to escape, the consequences were designed to dissuade future attempts: abductees who managed to get out were closely monitored and could expect to be pummeled if they were caught. Nguyen is not alone. Various other people have shared their stories in the news and online on websites like Reddit.
A person at the Myanmar scam compound is chained to a bed in this undated photo. Workers who cause trouble have been beaten, starved and electrocuted, Nguyen says.
Another notable story that was covered by CBS News (this time from the victim's side) is that of Nicole Hutchinson from Tennessee, who reportedly lost $390,000 after falling for an online crypto-dating scam. After losing her mother, 24-year-old Nicole inherited her house, which she sold and split the proceeds with her father. As a way to make new friends before moving to California, Hutchinson began to use online dating Hinge, where she met a man who called himself “Hao”. Nicole and Hao quickly became friends after Hao mentioned that he grew up in the same town in China where Hutchinson was adopted. Hao introduced Nicole to investing and cryptocurrency, encouraging her to get involved. Nicole admitted: "I've never invested in my life, I don't know anything about cryptocurrency either, so I was very skeptical," but Hao reassured her that this was an area he knew well
Persuaded to register an account on Crypto.com, she invested a small amount, but soon after, Hao convinced Nicole to transfer money to a new link he provided. Hao claimed this was another crypto exchange platform, but unfortunately, the site he gave her was designed to appear like a regular exchange, but in reality, it funneled money directly into the scammer’s pockets. He eventually disappeared. These stories have attracted worldwide notice, resulting in united endeavors to dismantle the frauds and save their victims. Yet, the deep-seated nature of these criminal networks and their collaboration with local officials present considerable hurdles to ending the operations for good.
Where is Myawaddy Scam Center Located?
The fact that it’s called the Myawaddy pig butchering crypto scam might lead you to believe that it takes place exclusively in Myawaddy, but that’s not entirely true. So, where is Myawaddy scam center located? In the state of Kayin in Myanmar, near its eastern border with Thailand. It faces Mae Sot, a large and important Thai border town in Tak Province. The two towns are linked by the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, a central point for the two countries' trade. The Myawaddy scam compounds mainly operate from KK Park and Shwe Kokko two big developments that serve as self-contained enclaves run by Chinese organized crime and local militias. They are along the Moei River, which is the natural border between Myanmar and Thailand.
Nearby Locations:
● Mae Sot, Thailand (directly across the border)
● Hpa-An, Myanmar (capital of Kayin State, about 100 km west)
● Yangon, Myanmar (largest city, approximately 400 km southwest)
● Bangkok, Thailand (around 500 km southeast)
The area surrounding Myawaddy is so poorly governed that armed groups and the Karen National Army, formerly known as the Karen BGF, control much of it. This allows Myawaddy to serve as a base of operations for recruiting workers, moving money, and shifting supplies.
Myawaddy Human Trafficking
Organized crime like the Myawaddy pig butchering crypto scam has made Myawaddy a major hub, especially when it comes to forced labor in scam compounds. But what is the connection between Myawaddy human trafficking? Myawaddy is a city in which numerous crypto scam center hubs are used to run scams on victims. It is operated by between 100,000 and 200,000 individuals (about the same as the number of soldiers in the Myanmar Army), who were either caught in or sold through human trafficking by criminal organizations.
Who is Being Trafficked?
The majority of victims are from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, and African countries. They are typically young adults in their 20s and 30s who are sincerely seeking employment overseas. Scammers pursue them endlessly and have perfected strategies for luring in job seekers. The bait they use is the promise of well-paying jobs in customer service, IT support, digital marketing, and cryptocurrency trading, among other forms of digital work. Those who don’t get recruited into this virtual workforce are sometimes simply kidnapped. This has happened to tourists in Thailand, who have been abducted and forced across the Moei River into Myanmar, where they are held for ransom. Some victims are recruited by insiders who are working under coercive conditions—old trafficking victims who are forced to recruit new workers to stay alive. Inside these operations, people are re-trafficked and sold to different scam operations, making the whole escape thing really messy and nearly impossible. We found that these trafficking captors in Myawaddy buy and sell people and re-traffick them for prices ranging from $3,000 to $10,000, depending on the "skill set" that person has and how well they're able to generate revenue through scams.
What are Conditions Like in the Myawaddy Crypto Scam Centers?
Once inside a compound for scams, workers endure terrible conditions. Their identities are stolen as soon as they arrive, and all personal effects, including passports, are taken to prevent any kind of escape. They are worked to the bone, putting in 15 to 18 hours a day under the watchful eyes of the people who run the scam, and they engage in hustle after hustle to pull in more money for the operation. Some of the workers, particularly the Chinese ones, are forced to call people back in their home country and trick them into revealing personal information like bank account numbers. Not meeting monetary goals when conducting the Myawaddy pig butchering crypto scam reportedly results in torture: beatings, electric shocks, starvation, and, in some cases, the forced wearing of a straitjacket. Reports also tell of sexual abuse and the trafficking of organs, particularly when the victims have become "unprofitable" to the scam operation. Those who try to escape and get caught are often sold to another compound or are executed as a warning to others.
Who is Running Myawaddy Human Trafficking Operations?
Myawaddy's trafficking and scam operations are run by a network of Chinese criminal syndicates, local armed groups, and corrupt officials who allow large-scale worker trafficking to occur. One key figure includes She Zhikiang, a Chinese businessman and chairman of Yatai International Holdings Group, who invested heavily in developing Shwe Kokko into a hub for illicit activities. Another prominent individual is Colonel Saw Chit Thu, of former colonel in the Karen National Union (KNU), who has been implicated in facilitating these operations. These criminal syndicates work in combination to make sure that scam compounds are not only operational but also highly protected and, if not extremely profitable, at least borderline profitable, to make sure that those compounds stay open and those groups stay in power. Day-to-day, the scam operations are run by Chinese triads and criminal enterprises that operate at an industrial scale.
They are the ones who are running the fraudulent call center scam. They run the fake investment scam. They set up and manage the scam compounds like KK Park and Shwe Kokko. Meanwhile, the scam compounds in Myanmar are protected by the Karen National Army, formerly known as the Karen BGF. Rather than shutting the compounds down, the Karen National Army reportedly takes bribes from the operators of the scams and allows the hubs to operate without interference. The scam hubs and the people they trap are thus rendered beyond the reach of any meaningful local or international law enforcement. By letting the scam operators pay their way to freedom, the Karen National Army has made it almost impossible for victims to escape the strong-arm control of the scam operations. These operations have also been linked to Karen rebel groups, including the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). Their involvement varies, but some have been accused of either providing security for these operations or looking the other way when these operations are happening, in exchange for a slice of the profit.
What are the Methods Used by Myawaddy Scam Centers to Steal Cryptocurrency?
The reason the Myawaddy pig butchering scam is so successful is because it uses a range of different tactics to trick people into falling for scams. But what are the methods used by Myawaddy scam centers to steal cryptocurrency? Romance scams, friendship frauds, and impersonating scams are the most common types used in Myawaddy. In romance scams, the scammer forms relationships with victims on social media, dating sites, or messaging platforms. In friendship frauds, the scammers "accidentally" message people to "befriend" them afterward, and in impersonating scams, the victims are made to believe that they are contacting a real celebrity or a public figure. After gaining the scammers' trust, the victims are later tricked into making fraudulent investments in fake sites, and when they realize that they have been scammed and try to pull their money out, their access to the sites is blocked and their money disappears. In these fake crypto trading platforms, scammers direct victims to knockoff websites that resemble real exchanges, such as Binance or Coinbase. These platforms let victims deposit cash and even allow for some initial, small withdrawals to build confidence. But when the would-be trader pushes a larger investment through, they're locked out of the website, and the site operators make off with the funds. Unlike scam-operated trading platforms, legitimate services like PlasBit implement strict security measures and transparency to protect users from fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.
How to Identify a Pig Butchering Scam
In a pig butchering scam, scammers create false personas, often using the images of real, attractive people, to lure in victims. The scammer then poses as a financial advisor or investment manager. From there, they have a series of conversations with the victim to build trust and convince the victim to send them money. Here are some tips for identifying a pig butchering scam (and crypto scams in general):
1. Unsolicited Contact From a Stranger
Fraudsters initiate contact out of nowhere, acting as though they have reached you by accident. Commonplace are lines like, "Hi, is this Sarah? Oh, my bad, wrong number!" They almost immediately take the chat in a concerted direction, though, toward pleasant, innocuous, almost-interview-like banter. These snare-the-next-victim chats generally start life as conversations on social media, dating apps, or more direct messaging platforms—like WhatsApp, Telegram, or LinkedIn.
How to identify when unsolicited messages might be from a pig butchering scammer:
● A stranger contacts you out of nowhere, usually through social media or SMS.
● They quickly shift from small talk to personal conversation
● They insist on moving the conversation to private messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram.
2. Fast-Tracked Emotional Bonding
Con artists attempt to quickly create trust and emotional connections by reaching out every day and spinning elaborate lies about their lives. They often hold themselves out as financial gurus: angel investors, crypto traders, or capstone business owners, who are just dying to "help" you make it big. Some Anglers also employ images created by artificial intelligence, photos of real people they've stolen from the internet, or videos made with deepfake technology to look authentic. Fortunately, it’s easy to spot when somebody might be trying to scam you through emotional bonding. Watch out for the other person being overly interested in your life very quickly. They’ll also probably bombard you with daily messages and calls, and will share suspiciously polished pictures. They’ll usually dodge video calls or appear unnatural in live chats (i.e., by using filters or deepfakes.)
3. An ‘Exclusive’ Investment Opportunity
At some point, a "life-changing investment" is introduced, typically in an area like cryptocurrency, stocks, or foreign exchange trading. You are led to believe that this investment, in which you have almost "no risk", will bring you returns that have only up until this point been seen in the context of historical anomalies. You are told that the person with whom you are investing has it figuratively down to a science. In reality, that person is not investing at all but rather using a controlled environment—like a fake trading platform or a rigged crypto exchange—to get as many people as possible to part with their money. Red flags for this type of scambaiting include investment promises that are guaranteed or too-good-to-be-true. You’ll also feel pressured to invest quickly before you “miss out” on the opportunity. Scammers in these situations will never be able to provide verifiable proof of their financial success or track record.
4. Fake Trading Platforms or Apps
Individuals who fall prey to these scams are sent to look-alike websites or apps that have been made to look and function like real cryptocurrency exchanges. The scammers behind these platforms have set up a pretty elaborate system to make themselves (and these platforms) seem credible. Meanwhile, the actual, real-life operation is working its way toward Classic Ponzi Scheme territory—except in this case, we're not even seeing real trades happen and fake profits generated. Instead, the "profits" that victims see are simply fresh deposits from other victims. The fake exchanges appear to be making a good amount of trading activity to make them look valid and legit, and to lure in more unsuspecting victims.
Red flags for fake trading platforms and apps include:
● The platform is not listed on official financial regulatory sites (e.g., SEC, FINRA)..
● The website has a recently registered domain with no track record.
● Withdrawal requests are delayed or denied with excuses like “system upgrades”.
● Customer support is evasive, unhelpful, or pressures you to invest more.
Unlike these fraudulent platforms, legitimate services like PlasBit implement strict security measures and transparency to protect users from such schemes.
5. Pressure to Invest More
After the victim has put in an initial sum and witnessed the deceptive growth of their investment, the con artists pressure them to put in even more cash to boost their "returns." They might recommend that the victim take out a loan, use their savings, or even enlist friends and family to help them fund their scheme. And if the victim seems at all hesitant, the scammers will ramp up the pressure with classic con-man tactics, like making their operation seem super time-limited or else using the good old FOMO angle.
The Ongoing Battle Against Myawaddy’s Scam Networks
The Myawaddy pig butchering scam is a well-organized transnational fraud operation that combines cryptocurrency scams, human trafficking, and psychological manipulation to steal billions of dollars from victims worldwide. The individuals who lose their money are not the only victims of these scams. Thousands of trafficked workers are forced to conduct these frauds under threats of violence. Many are lured by fake job offers, only to find themselves imprisoned in compounds like KK Park and Shwe Kokko, working 18-hour shifts under brutal conditions. Even after the international police and governments do their best to try to take down these scam operations, the networks behind them just keep on evolving, zeroing in on the weak spots—light regulations, border corruption, and our new BFF, the cryptocurrency. When they do get hit, some trafficked workers are freed, and we do see some dismantling of the scam rings. But new ones come along and pop up just as fast as we see old ones get shut down. To fight scams like those in Myawaddy, the crypto industry must enforce stricter regulations. Platforms like PlasBit emphasize security and compliance, helping users trade safely and avoid money laundering risks.
