The Scam Problem
Online scams are part of sophisticated programs managed by transnational organized crime groups.
Transnational organized crime is firmly established in Southeast Asia and is quickly expanding its geographical footprint to other locations, including South America, Africa, and beyond. Scam compounds such as KK Park in Myanmar (pictured above) house thousands of human-trafficked victims, who are forced to steal money from the rest of the world, often in the form of a fraud known as pig butchering.
The management is organized, sophisticated, and operates on an industrial scale, often with the tacit agreement of the governments of the countries in which they operate.
Hundreds of billions of dollars are handed over, household by household, to bad actors every year. The human toll — both to the trafficked victims and those who are targeted by the scams — is devastating.
As awareness of this international crisis grows, efforts to defeat it remain siloed. Organizations work independently, missing opportunities to combine knowledge and strength.
7 Minutes in a Scam Compound
Operation Shamrock Founder Erin West had a unique opportunity to see inside compounds in the Philippines where trafficked victims were forced to scam people out of their life savings.
After raiding two separate compounds, the Philippine government left much of the infrastructure intact, allowing trusted partners to walk through the facilities to see conditions firsthand. This video provides a glimpse of a compound, operating in plain view, only blocks from the U.S. Embassy.