Young and tech-savvy victims are trapped and then forced into running illegal operations online.
Archived version: https://archive.ph/99snT
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Fuck, how widespread is this? It was one thing when they were all faceless, malevolent, digital actors. But how much of the time is it someone trapped into slavery?
If I argue with a Chinese troll, am I actually arguing with some Uygher in a detention camp somewhere?
Yeah I think about that even with the tankie trolls on here, is it just some poor fuck enlisted in the russian war effort to shill for Putin’s imperial dreams
This has been pretty prevalent in southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar and Cambodia. Young tech and hospitality workers with English skills are lured with promises of great pay only to end up in industrial park slave camps. Circumstances vary, many are trapped into debt slavery and are generally allowed to go home after “working” for several months to a few years.
Not certain how much these operations overlap with disinformation/influence campaigns, pig butchering is typically associated with crypto scams and recovery scams. DW did a pretty good documentary on this: https://youtu.be/Ti7YDegRMYE
Odd the BBC choose to clarify here
… Love scams. The latter are also known as “pig butchering” scams, named after the farming practice of fattening pigs before slaughtering them.
Some fat English gammon editor maybe got a bit uncomfortable by the name possibly…
