Many average people lost their life savings in bad crypto investments. But the real victims of the crypto craze lost much more.

Journalist Zeke Faux travelled 9,000 miles to meet some of them. He tells their stories in his excellent new book Number Go Up.

A Mysterious Text Message

The scam started with an unsolicited message, often via SMS. The scammer would pretend to be an attractive member of the opposite sex interested in a relationship.

Over time, the conversation would drift to crypto. The scammer would tell the target she was making a fortune on her trades.

Often, the target would want to learn how to make some easy money too. Then, the scammer would direct the target to a fake crypto trading website.

At first, the target seemed to be making a fortune. But soon, the money would disappear, along with his love interest.

The Fraud Factory

In Cambodia, thousands of migrants were held against their will and forced to perpetrate crypto scams. If they missed their quota, some were beaten or even killed.

Huge compounds filled with trafficked migrants are found all over Cambodia, and doubtless other countries as well.

These are the true victims of the crypto bubble.

At best, authorities are indifferent. At worst, they’re paid employees of the human traffickers.

A Scam of Massive Proportions

“Pig butchering” scams like this have made at least $10 billion, according to one investigator.

The proceeds of these scams are laundered using Tether, a stablecoin. That Tether is swapped for cold, hard cash on crypto exchanges.

This is crypto’s real use case: fraud and brutal slavery.

Don’t Get Scammed

The best way to stop the brutal trafficking of these innocent people is to recognize the scam when you see it. If the scammers aren’t making money, they’ll move on to something else.

Don’t engage with unsolicited texts. Be wary of people on dating apps who will chat with you all day, but never want to meet in person.

There’s no reason that a love interest should be selling you on investments. If you see the signs of a pig butchering scam, run.

Wrap-Up

I recently wrote that crypto has seen few use cases in its 14 year history. A reader chimed in that stablecoins are one common use.

That’s perfectly true. Users perform hundreds of thousands of transactions using Tether every day.

But time and time again, those transactions are linked to fraud. Pig butchering scams alone have laundered many billions using Tether.

Crypto’s impact on society has been mostly negative. If a technology is primarily used for speculation and fraud, it’s not a valuable technology.

What do you think of crypto frauds? Leave a comment and let us know!

More on tech:

Number Go Up (Part 1): The Rise and Fall of SBF

What Is Crypto For?

Elon Musk (Part 1): Overcoming the Odds

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Photo: Sihanoukville, Cambodia, home to many pig butchering scams. “School Days – Children playing under a tree in Sihanoukville, Cambodia” by bvi4092 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.