United

Read

<div class="protos">
 <div>
  <div>
   <div>
    <p>Over 600 workers who had been forced to take part in so-called ‘pig-butchering’ crypto scams in the Philippines were rescued by authorities on Thursday after one victim scaled the walls and fled, alerting the police.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>Authorities freed 383 Filipinos, 202 Chinese, and 73 other foreign nationals from a compound in Bamban, a northern district in the Philippines.</p>
    <p>According to Winston Casio, a spokesman for the Presidential Commission Against Organized Crime, the center trapped “good-looking men and women to lure [victims].” He says that freed victims are still ‘shaken’ by the ordeal.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>Trapped individuals are forced to carry out romance scams all day that seduce victims into investing in bogus crypto platforms. In most cases, <strong>they are tortured and forced to work long hours</strong> with few or no breaks.&nbsp;</p>
    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-protos wp-block-embed-protos">
     <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
      <blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="h7r7JT2soa">
       1,200 slaves freed from Myanmar pig-butchering compound
      </blockquote><iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);" title="“1,200 slaves freed from Myanmar pig-butchering compound” — Protos" src="https://protos.com/1200-slaves-freed-from-myanmar-pig-butchering-compound/embed/#?secret=JSa9ypVcQY#?secret=h7r7JT2soa" data-secret="h7r7JT2soa" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
     </div>
    </figure>
    <p><em>Read more: United Nations reports USDT used for money laundering across SE Asia</em></p>
    <p>According to a BBC report, the escaped individual was a Vietnamese man in his 30s who had enrolled as a chef at the center, which it was claimed was an online gambling firm. However, he was subsequently held against his will and forced to conduct crypto scams that Casio claims were mainly directed towards Chinese nationals.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>The man was able to escape after climbing over the center’s wall, crossing a river, and hiding out on a farm. He claimed others had tried to escape but were not successful. Casio said <strong>the man was found with electrocution scars</strong>, suggesting he was tortured.</p>
    <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crypto-and-pig-butchering-go-hand-in-hand">Crypto and pig butchering go hand in hand&nbsp;</h2>
    <p>Police in Myanmar <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="freed" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/freed.html">freed</a> 1,200 slaves from a similar <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="compound" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/compound.html">compound</a> earlier this month. One pig <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="butchering" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/butchering.html">butchering</a> <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="Scam" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/scam.html">Scam</a> based there made $100 million in <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="USDT" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/usdt.html">USDT</a> over two years.</p>
    <p>These scams are often orchestrated across Asia and rely on USDT to make their money. A recent report suggested <strong>close to $75 billion</strong> has been made from their exploits. However, a blockchain forensics expert has since raised concerns that the report may have inflated this figure by “a few orders of magnitude.”</p>
    <p><em>Read more: Blockchain forensics expert has doubts over $75B ‘pig butchering’ report</em></p>
    <p>Regardless, the United Nations (UN) reinforces that USDT is used by the criminal underworld in a ‘parallel banking system.’ According to the UN, hundreds of thousands of victims have been trafficked across the globe to work these scams. The FBI reported that pig butchering <strong>caused $3.3 billion worth of losses</strong> in the US, affecting at least 40,000 victims.</p>
    <p><em>Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on&nbsp;</em><em>X</em><em>,&nbsp;</em><em>Instagram</em><em>,&nbsp;</em><em>Bluesky</em><em>, and&nbsp;</em><em>Google News</em><em>, or subscribe to our&nbsp;</em><em>YouTube</em><em>&nbsp;channel.</em></p>
   </div>
  </div>
 </div>
</div>
<p>Source: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://thebittimes.com/hundreds-freed-from-pig-butchering-compound-after-victim-escapes-tbt82553.html">https://thebittimes.com/hundreds-freed-from-pig-butchering-compound-after-victim-escapes-tbt82553.html</a></p>

Hundreds freed from ‘pig-butchering’ compound after victim escapes

Table of Contents

TheBitTimes

Other articles published on Mar 14, 2024

OpenAI swoops up French and Spanish news partners for AI chatbot training

Hong Kong Advances e-HKD Pilot Program

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Gains Substantial BTC Supply

The Fusion of Cryptocurrency and Sports Betting: The Rise of Cryptos in Wagering

Avalanche (AVAX) and Tether (USDT) Illuminate Kelexo (KLXO) Crypto Lending Landscape: 40X Rumors ...

Crypto News: SOL, BNB, PEPE, and WIF Surge While ETH Stumble

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!