Fraud factory

The fraud factories name is used by Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the activity of trafficking victims to Asia where they use digital media to meet westerners and sell them cryptocurrencies.[1]

Fraud factories are operated by Chinese criminal gangs.[2] The gang's traditional revenue stream of gambling reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and their activities increasingly focus on fraud factories to regain lost revenue.[2]

Between August and late September 2022, the Kenya embassy to Thailand facilitated the rescue of 76 trafficking victims.[1] The victims were mostly Kenyan, but also include Ugandans and a Burundian.[1] The criminal gangs who operate the fraud factories target young and educated Africans.[1]

In November 2022, one Kenyan died after a botched organ harvesting operation associated with a fraud factory in Myanmar.[3][1]

The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone by the banks of the Mekong River

BBC News reported the locations of fraud factories as being in Laos and Myanmar, notably in Kachin where the Kachin conflict is occurring, a factor that makes rescues difficult.[1] The Japan Times reported that factories which initially started operations in Cambodia later switched locations to Laos and that victims were held special economic zones in Laos and Myanmar (and also specifically Myawaddy), as well as casinos in Cambodia.[2] The trafficked victims are lured with job offers, one victim the BBC of traveled to Thailand for a job before being driven to Laos.[1]

Fraud factory workers are trained to create online social media and dating personas which they use to built up trust with westerners and engage in fake romance scams with the goal of encouraging the westerners to buy cryptocurrencies.[1][2] The targets of the bait and switch cyber crime were predominantly US citizens.[1] The process of fraudulently building up trust with victims online in order to sell them cryptocurrencies is known as pig butchering.[2]

The trafficked Kenyans were prevented from leaving unless they paid 1.2m Kenyan shillings and were threatened with forced sex work and organ harvesting if they did not meet work performance targets.[1] Two victims who spoke to the BBC were rescued by Awareness Against Human Trafficking.[1] Trafficking victims have their passports confiscated by the traffickers, some have returned to Kenya with broken limbs, as result of beatings from their captors.[1]

• Slavery in the 21st century
• Cryptocurrency and crime
• List of confidence tricks