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ProPublica @propublica.org

5/ Important note: Many of the workers are also victims of human trafficking who’ve been tricked into working inside these fraud factories. Here’s Cezary's report on the crushing cycle of victimization involved in pig-butchering scams:

jul 6, 2025, 1:11 am • 414 97

Replies

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Chris W 64.9N @borealchrys.bsky.social

I’ve been considering if there’s any useful resource I could point the pig butchering scammer to before blocking them. I’ve used random articles about the compounds in Myanmar, but it would be better to have something written for the potential trafficking victims.

jul 6, 2025, 1:47 am • 3 0 • view
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Subira @bintiq.bsky.social

I have fun. Put them on hold and go about my business. Or Put them on hold and come back with "You have reached precinct # ---. This is sergeant so and so, I hear you have an incident to report. May I have your name, phone# ..." *click* They're gone! 😁

jul 6, 2025, 5:25 am • 8 0 • view
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🌈🏳️‍⚧️🎀🇨🇭🇨🇦🇺🇦Reg🇺🇦🇨🇦🇨🇭🎀 @regthrwombat.bsky.social

Be careful with that. They can copy and clone your voice to use it for accessing accounts. I just put my phone under a metal mixing bowl and wallop it with a mixing spoon. For some reason they don’t call back.

jul 6, 2025, 3:08 pm • 3 0 • view
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Subira @bintiq.bsky.social

😲‼️ 🙊🤐😶‍ Thanks for the warning

jul 6, 2025, 5:50 pm • 0 0 • view
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🌈🏳️‍⚧️🎀🇨🇭🇨🇦🇺🇦Reg🇺🇦🇨🇦🇨🇭🎀 @regthrwombat.bsky.social

My niece warned me. She also told me the metal bowl & spoon may be technically illegal, but what’s a scammer gonna do?

jul 6, 2025, 5:54 pm • 1 0 • view
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Chris W 64.9N @borealchrys.bsky.social

This podcast cured me of the idea of mocking the scammers. These aren’t Nigerian college students in an internet café. Both the targets and the callers are being ruthlessly exploited in this kind of scam. open.spotify.com/show/76SEtNM...

jul 6, 2025, 6:46 pm • 2 0 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

6/ Scammers prefer to deal in cryptocurrency, but since their typical victim doesn’t own crypto, many pig-butchering scams still unfold with consumers tapping their bank accounts to wire money to fraudsters’ accounts.

jul 6, 2025, 1:12 am • 301 33 • view
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Nancy Harris @nancyimagines.bsky.social

Ha ha ha Funnily enough I have been approached three times last week claiming the saw my resume on line.while I’ve searched companies that offer work from home part time work. Smelt funny How do you pay Crypto Bye

jul 6, 2025, 1:20 am • 13 1 • view
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Danny Mittleman @dannymittleman.bsky.social

I get the “saw your resume online” scam regularly. I’m retired from a job I had 28 years. My resume has never been online.

jul 6, 2025, 3:01 am • 7 0 • view
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Leo Horishny @leohorishny.bsky.social

What part of the phrase: you can't get something for nothing, do people forget is reality? Or? ALL of crypto is a global, multi-national, multi-governmental, Ponzi scheme? 🤦

jul 6, 2025, 2:19 am • 4 1 • view
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Ima Sasquatch @imasasquatch.bsky.social

jul 6, 2025, 7:29 am • 2 0 • view
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CZEdwards @czedwards.bsky.social

Yeah, I keep getting them, too. I have NEVER had a LinkedIn (social media tied to either housing or employment is a TERRIBLE idea), and haven’t had a resume in the wild since… 2007, 8ish. Haven’t even had my CV online since 2016. They mention those? They are scamming.

jul 6, 2025, 1:32 am • 12 1 • view
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Elizabeth Le Fen @fenbeast.bsky.social

My husband and I get a pretty good laugh at the ones that claim they saw his resume on LinkedIn. He’s a farmer/mechanic. He not only isn’t on LinkedIn, he’s never had a resume in his life.

jul 6, 2025, 1:30 am • 19 2 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

7/ But wait a second: An international scam operation can’t just have a checking account in its name. And how would these scammers move tens of billions of dollars of stolen money across borders without raising alarms?

jul 6, 2025, 1:13 am • 275 30 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

8/ Turns out there’s a parallel money-laundering industry that helps scammers do just that. They’re called “motorcades” (车队) in Chinese and they’re incredibly efficient at helping fraudsters collect and move stolen funds.

jul 6, 2025, 1:14 am • 308 44 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

9/ Here’s how motorcades operate. Once a scam gang in, say, Cambodia, has identified a fraud target willing to wire funds, they hire a motorcade that controls a U.S. bank account. The motorcade gives the account details to the scammers, who send them along to the victim.

jul 6, 2025, 1:14 am • 276 37 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

10/ This is what it looks like in practice. The fake online brokerage you’re dealing with will give you a “recharge account” to wire funds to, along with a request to send a screenshot when you’re done wiring the money, which then appears in the fake brokerage.

Screenshot of an exchange of messages between Kevin (last name redacted) and a
jul 6, 2025, 1:20 am • 249 32 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

11/ At this point you’ll wonder why you’re being asked to wire funds to some strange-sounding company other than the fake brokerage you’re dealing with. The scammers will tell you that’s just how crypto works and instruct you not to tell your bank you are “investing” in crypto.

jul 6, 2025, 1:20 am • 205 21 • view
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@citizen1 @citizen2.bsky.social

Right here on @bsky.social, I have been approached by someone posing as #GeorgeStrait, asked me to send cash, wire transfer or bitcoin to a nonprofit?

jul 6, 2025, 1:29 am • 4 0 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

12/ Don’t buy it. The strange-sounding companies are just shell entities the motorcade used to open bank accounts (examples from court records👇). They ask for a screenshot of your wire so they can credit your brokerage with fake money and take the real money soon as you send it.

A government exhibit from a civil asset forfeiture case shows examples of shell companies that scammers used to set up bank accounts and accept wire transfers from fraud victims.
jul 6, 2025, 1:24 am • 173 20 • view
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velourazure @velourazure.bsky.social

People wiring their life savings to "Dongdong Seafood LLC"

jul 6, 2025, 1:50 am • 0 0 • view
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ofttraveler.bsky.social @ofttraveler.bsky.social

😂

jul 6, 2025, 4:06 pm • 0 0 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

13/ And the only reason they don’t want you to mention crypto to your bank is because they don’t want the bank to talk you out of wiring the funds. This process is how Kevin, a lifelong saver and small business owner in New Jersey, lost $716,000 that he wired to scammers in 2023.

A man identified as Kevin, cast in shadow in a darkened room. He sits at a chair in front of a desk with a large computer monitor. Photograph by Christopher López for ProPublica.
jul 6, 2025, 1:29 am • 179 22 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

14/ Don’t think just because you’re wiring funds to a big bank that you’re protected from fraud. Motorcades are good at side-stepping banks’ anti-money laundering protocols and they exploit the fact that banks are reluctant to share suspect bank account info with each other.

Article excerpt:
jul 6, 2025, 1:30 am • 170 15 • view
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ProPublica @propublica.org

15/ In one case, a Chinese operative of a motorcade juggled seven different accounts at four different banks using two shell companies set up in his name: Sea Dragon Trading and Sea Dragon Remodel. Here’s how easy it was for him to get around banks’ defenses ⤵️

Article excerpt:
jul 6, 2025, 1:32 am • 154 16 • view
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᳄᳆᳇᳅ @n3cropants.bsky.social

powerpuff girls screenshot meme pic with a caption
jul 6, 2025, 1:35 am • 1 0 • view
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lilfarty.bsky.social @lilfarty.bsky.social

Interestingly I've learned in fintech, their partnerships with providers (like Wise, to send wires) are beneficial this way. Because both have kyc/aml/fraud protections, when one notices a previously flagged account on the other provider they can flag and shut it down

jul 6, 2025, 3:22 am • 0 0 • view
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burgle my ham @cleeder.bsky.social

Why? Why would anyone do that? Please explain.

jul 6, 2025, 2:28 am • 0 0 • view
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Greyt Gal Ⓥ @greytgal.bsky.social

I block texts and WA messages faster than you can say "scam." I've even blocked people I know and/or needed to be in touch with. 😂 Oops. Don't care. "Block early and often" is my motto.

jul 6, 2025, 1:30 am • 1 0 • view
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daWson_SC_🩵🇺🇲💙 @dawsonsc.bsky.social

is this from the trump org case? lol

jul 6, 2025, 1:33 am • 0 0 • view
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ofttraveler.bsky.social @ofttraveler.bsky.social

The problem with PHDs and bankers is that they spend so much time balancing their portfolios that they forget what genuine human interaction looks like. They expect their accountants to do that part for them so when they receive scam texts they don't know how to react. Us poor folk know better.

jul 6, 2025, 4:04 pm • 0 0 • view
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Dick Horn @tsuno85.bsky.social

Who falls for this crap?

jul 6, 2025, 2:13 am • 11 0 • view
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🌈🏳️‍⚧️🎀🇨🇭🇨🇦🇺🇦Reg🇺🇦🇨🇦🇨🇭🎀 @regthrwombat.bsky.social

Tech illiterate seniors, lonely people looking for any connection, people in financial distress who see it as an opportunity to get out.

jul 6, 2025, 3:04 pm • 9 0 • view
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Indigo 7A // Ash from New England // אשר @ashertheowl.bsky.social

scammers usually combine elements of: friendship/social trust, urgency, individual's vulnerability (catching someone already in emotional stress for any reason), and persuasiveness. it really can happen to anyone. it's numbers, only takes a few.

jul 8, 2025, 7:53 pm • 2 0 • view
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Michael “Concentration camps are bad, actually” Gier @mgier.bsky.social

My sister, who is not particularly stupid or gullible, fell for an online scammer to the tune of over $10k a couple of years ago. When retelling the story — in hindsight — it sounded like an obvious scam. But in the moment, the scammers were *very* skilled at getting her to give up the money.

jul 6, 2025, 3:30 am • 7 0 • view
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Secrest the Human 🏳️‍⚧️ @secrest.bsky.social

A lot of people. Maybe try empathizing with them instead of judging them.

jul 6, 2025, 8:29 am • 4 0 • view
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Dick Horn @tsuno85.bsky.social

I’m 85 and I wasn’t judging at least that was not my intent. Just don’t take calls if you don’t know the number! If it’s important they will leave a voicemail. Most calls I get now days don’t leave a voicemail so I block and report. Common sense was my intent. Sorry if I offended you.

jul 8, 2025, 3:04 am • 0 0 • view
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🅺0_🅶🆁🅰🅳 @k0grad.bsky.social

Vulnerable folks, unfortunately.

jul 6, 2025, 2:37 am • 3 0 • view
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Indigo 7A // Ash from New England // אשר @ashertheowl.bsky.social

anyone is vulnerable at the right timing. job loss? loved one passed away? recent move? all ripe for someone to be just distracted enough to not immediately suss out scams.

jul 8, 2025, 7:55 pm • 2 0 • view
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Dick Horn @tsuno85.bsky.social

Unfortunately that’s probably one of the things they count on.

jul 8, 2025, 8:14 pm • 2 0 • view
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jeffery @dark.aikaos.com

People like to pretend it’s all “vulnerable” folks, but in reality it’s greed. People are just greedy as hell, and always want more, more, more. “Pigs get slaughtered” is an idiom in the financial world about people being overly greedy who in turn lose their ass. Hence, “pig-butchering scam”.

jul 6, 2025, 2:46 am • 19 1 • view
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californiadreamy.bsky.social @californiadreamy.bsky.social

It's "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."

jul 6, 2025, 3:50 am • 6 0 • view
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Chuck, just Chuck @ncstarguy.bsky.social

Greedy people, which is why it’s called “pig butchering“, from the saying: “Bulls make money. Bears make money. Pigs get slaughtered.”

jul 7, 2025, 6:39 am • 0 1 • view
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Jonny @jonnyblueapple.bsky.social

Watch out if you ever respond to these just to be troublesome. Be slightly positive and your number will be sent far and wide for more of the same…

jul 6, 2025, 7:57 am • 17 2 • view
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Black Snow Weather Bureau @vulcanizedfiver.bsky.social

Positive? I've been DMing them back a picture of my latest deposit to the Bank of Porcelain before blocking.

Video thumbnail
jul 6, 2025, 5:28 pm • 1 0 • view
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Toe Beans @v-ron.bsky.social

?

jul 6, 2025, 1:14 am • 0 0 • view
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kminichello.bsky.social @kminichello.bsky.social

📌

jul 6, 2025, 2:47 am • 0 0 • view
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Release the Epstein files @hopeyy84.bsky.social

👆22-year-old from China who was taken captive in 2021, was sold twice within the past year, he said. He doesn’t know if he was listed on Telegram. All he knows is that each time he was sold, his new captors raised the amount he’d have to pay to buy his freedom

jul 6, 2025, 4:00 am • 2 1 • view