Forced-Labor Camps Fuel Billions of Dollars in Cyber Scams

The article describes large Chinese-led crime syndicates operating scam centers across Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and neighboring countries that run long-term romance and investment scams (“pig butchering”), enslave workers, and funnel tens of billions of dollars through cryptocurrency exchanges (notably Binance, Huobi, and OKX). It covers the human-trafficking aspects, estimated financial scale ($64–75B+ over recent years), the role of corrupt or complicit local actors protecting the centers, and coordinated responses from regional law enforcement, banks, and industry groups to detect victims and restrict illicit crypto flows.