Criminals are increasingly targeting individuals worldwide through text messaging, dating apps, social media, and email with schemes like 'pig butchering,' which aim to deceive victims into scam investments. For the first time, an approach is being shared to counter the cross-border criminal organizations behind forced-labor scam compounds under Dangerous Organizations and Individuals (DOI) and safety policies.

'Pig butchering' involves building trusted personal relationships online to manipulate victims into depositing money into fraudulent investment schemes, often involving cryptocurrency. These scams emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic from organized crime groups in the Asia Pacific region and have since expanded globally.

The US Institute of Peace estimates that up to 300,000 people are coerced into scamming others worldwide by these groups, resulting in approximately $64 billion stolen annually as of 2023. Efforts have been focused on investigating and disrupting these activities in Southeast Asia, initially targeting Cambodia before expanding efforts to Laos, Myanmar, and more recently the United Arab Emirates.

These scams involve a range of malicious activities including cryptocurrency frauds, gambling scams, loan scams, investment scams like 'pig butchering,' and impersonation scams. The operations are tightly scripted by criminal syndicates aiming for wide-scale deception using deceptive personas.

To combat these scam centers globally under DOI policies, entities involved are banned from platforms once designated as DOIs. Investigative teams monitor for attempts to circumvent enforcement while working with law enforcement agencies worldwide.

Police Major General Teeradej Thumsutee of the Royal Thai Police stated: “The Royal Thai Police has been working with Meta on disrupting criminal scam centers for over two years. We’ve been able to share information so they can investigate and take action against the bad guys and help us hold the criminal syndicates behind these scam centers accountable.”

Collaboration within industries is emphasized as critical due to these organizations operating across borders with little deterrence. Information sharing among industry peers aims at preventing syndicates from targeting people on various platforms.

Recently disrupted activity originating from a new scam compound in Cambodia was investigated based on information shared by OpenAI. Additionally, a Summit on Countering Online Criminal Scam Syndicates was co-convened last week as part of the Tech Against Scams Coalition.

Efforts also include rolling out new product features across Meta's apps aimed at protecting users from known scam tactics at scale. Regular updates will continue regarding work to counter scams broadly along with safety tips and product updates.