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.
Replies
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
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.
jul 6, 2025, 1:20 am • 249 32 • view
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
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
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.
jul 6, 2025, 1:24 am • 173 20 • view
People wiring their life savings to "Dongdong Seafood LLC"
jul 6, 2025, 1:50 am • 0 0 • view
😂
jul 6, 2025, 4:06 pm • 0 0 • view
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.
jul 6, 2025, 1:29 am • 179 22 • view
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.
jul 6, 2025, 1:30 am • 170 15 • view
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 ⤵️
jul 6, 2025, 1:32 am • 154 16 • view
16/ The man recruited to open these accounts, Hailong Zhu, is one of several operatives charged with money laundering offenses for their alleged roles assisting pig-butchering scammers. Zhu did not enter a plea and was listed as a fugitive as of March 2025.
jul 6, 2025, 1:34 am • 142 17 • view
17/ It’s surprisingly easy to hire a motorcade. If you’re a criminal in Cambodia, looking to get a bank account with no pesky formalities, it’ll only take minutes to find one on Telegram. Here’s one ad that cites “firsthand” control of U.S. bank accounts for scammers:
![Screenshot of a Chinese ad on Telegram that offered bank accounts for “precision chat” — slang for pig-butchering — at Bank of America, Chase, Citibank and PNC. Under “advantages,” the ad listed “firsthand [control], people can go to the bank to transfer money … not a virtual account.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:k4jt6heuiamymgi46yeuxtpt/bafkreihpnhps2full7r7wobib3ak3r5mncplnwkhkqv3lznznakdi5jfde@jpeg)
jul 6, 2025, 1:37 am • 131 15 • view
18/ Telegram said that it “expressly forbids money laundering, scams and fraud and such content is immediately removed whenever discovered.” You can read more of the company’s statement here👇
jul 6, 2025, 1:39 am • 117 8 • view
If you or someone you know is a victim, report it to the www.IC3.gov. In the report, please reference “Pig Butchering PSA” and include as much information as possible in the complaint including names of investment platforms, cryptocurrency addresses and transaction hashes, bank account information
jul 6, 2025, 4:13 am • 0 0 • view
jul 6, 2025, 1:35 am • 1 0 • view
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
Why? Why would anyone do that? Please explain.
jul 6, 2025, 2:28 am • 0 0 • view
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
is this from the trump org case? lol
jul 6, 2025, 1:33 am • 0 0 • view
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
Who falls for this crap?
jul 6, 2025, 2:13 am • 11 0 • view
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
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
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
A lot of people. Maybe try empathizing with them instead of judging them.
jul 6, 2025, 8:29 am • 4 0 • view
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
Vulnerable folks, unfortunately.
jul 6, 2025, 2:37 am • 3 0 • view
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
Unfortunately that’s probably one of the things they count on.
jul 8, 2025, 8:14 pm • 2 0 • view
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
It's "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered."
jul 6, 2025, 3:50 am • 6 0 • view
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
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
Positive? I've been DMing them back a picture of my latest deposit to the Bank of Porcelain before blocking.
jul 6, 2025, 5:28 pm • 1 0 • view