We’ve all seen the scam messages:
“Hello dear, I saw your profile. You seem like a trustworthy person.”
“Invest $500 in crypto and get $5,000 back.”
“Join my OnlyFans, I’ll make it worth your while…”
Annoying, right? But here’s what most people don’t know: some of those messages come from slaves. Literal slaves: duped into a fake job, beaten, starved, and tortured if they don’t scam enough people each day.
Welcome to scam cities, the cyber sweatshops of the world, where human trafficking meets organized crime in one of the most disturbing industries operating right now.
I only became aware of scam cities a couple of days ago, after watching this programme:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001rs7s/hunting-the-catfish-crime-gang
James Blake thought he could trace the origin of the fake profiles set up using his name and photos, but his journey led to this very dark side of the internet.
Real Stories from Scam City Survivors
1. Cambodian Scam Compounds—People Sold Like Cattle
In 2022, reports exploded out of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, once a tourist hotspot, now notorious for its scam compounds. Thousands of people were lured there with fake job offers promising high salaries.
Once inside, passports were seized, phones taken, and they were told: “You work for us now.”
Escape? Impossible. Those who tried were beaten, electrocuted, or worse such as being sold to another syndicate for $10,000 like property.
Survivors described being forced to run “pig butchering” scams—long-term romance cons tricking victims into investing life savings in fake crypto. Refuse to scam? Get tortured.
2. A Filipino Woman’s Nightmare—Trafficked, Beaten, and Forced to Scam
In 2023, The Guardian newspaper interviewed a young Filipino woman trafficked to a scamming compound in Cambodia. She was promised a marketing job.
Instead, she was forced to flirt with men online, convincing them to invest in fake crypto. Every time she missed her target, guards beat her with electric batons.
“We had to hit $1,000 a day or we’d be punished,” she said. “They beat us like animals.”
3. Chinese Man Sold into Slavery—Escapes with His Life
One Chinese man, tricked by a fake job ad, found himself trapped in a scam center in Myanmar. He described being locked inside a compound surrounded by barbed wire and guards with AK-47s. He watched as another man who tried to escape was caught, dragged back, and beaten nearly to death in front of everyone as a warning.
Eventually, he managed to escape, but only after his family paid a ransom to buy his freedom.
What Scams Are They Running?
These compounds pump out:
💔 Romance Scams (Pig Butchering) – building fake relationships, then draining victims’ life savings
💸 Crypto Investment Scams – fake platforms, fake profits, real losses
🎣 Phishing Attacks – stealing bank details, personal info, and identities
🎮 Online Gaming Scams – targeting players with too good to be true offers
The Industry is Massive—and Growing
The United Nations estimates hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in these scam cities. This isn’t petty crime, it’s a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Criminal gangs from China, Taiwan, and elsewhere bankroll these operations, protected by corrupt officials or located in lawless “special economic zones” where no one enforces the law.
There are documented instances where such exploitative practices have been uncovered:
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Meta’s Takedown of Sextortion Accounts: In July 2024, Meta reported the removal of approximately 63,000 Instagram accounts involved in sextortion scams. These accounts, primarily operated from Nigeria, targeted both adults and minors by coercing them into sharing explicit content, which was then used for blackmail.
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Hushpuppi’s Instagram Exploits: Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, known as Hushpuppi, was a Nigerian Instagram influencer who showcased a lavish lifestyle funded by extensive cyber fraud schemes. His account served both as a tool for flaunting ill-gotten wealth and as a means to lure potential victims into fraudulent activities.
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Hollywood Con Queen Scam: This elaborate scheme involved impersonating Hollywood executives to deceive entertainment professionals into traveling to Indonesia under false pretenses. While not limited to Instagram, the scam exploited social media platforms to establish credibility and communicate with victims.
Given the covert nature of these operations, it’s crucial for users to exercise caution on social media platforms. Be wary of unsolicited messages, too-good-to-be-true opportunities, and requests for personal information or financial transactions. Reporting suspicious accounts and staying informed about prevalent scam tactics can help protect oneself and others from falling victim to such schemes.
Meanwhile, the masterminds sit comfortably, untouched.
What Makes This Worse? Victim-Blaming
The cruel twist? Many scammers are victims as much as those they target. But when rescued, some countries treat them like criminals—detaining them or deporting them back to unsafe conditions.
What Can We Do?
✅ Call this what it is: Human Trafficking These people aren’t “internet scammers.” They’re trafficking victims forced to commit crimes under threat of torture and death.
✅ Pressure governments and tech platforms to crack down on scam operations, not just the poor souls forced to run them.
✅ Educate yourself and others—the next scam message you get might be coming from someone praying you fall for it because they are scared of the consequences if you don’t.
The next time a scam message pops up, remember, it might not be coming from some greedy hacker in a dark basement. It could be a terrified 20-year-old, locked behind an electric fence, knowing if they don’t steal from someone today, they’ll be beaten tonight.
This isn’t just a cybercrime problem. It’s a human rights crisis, one happening right now.
We need to speak up for these modern day slaves…
Photo by Hermes Rivera
