Trafficking Survivor Exposes Pig Butchering Scam Compounds
Human Trafficking Survivor Small Q Exposes Compounds in Myanmar (Ep. 29)
Episode 29: Join Erin West in Entebbe, Uganda, for an extraordinary conversation with Small Q, a survivor of two of Southeast Asia's most notorious scam compounds.
In this eye-opening episode, Small Q reveals the brutal reality inside pig butchering operations, where human trafficking victims are forced to execute cryptocurrency romance scams against Americans and people worldwide.
Discover the shocking tactics scammers use: fake offices, planted models for video verification, and sophisticated social engineering techniques designed to build trust before stealing life savings. Small Q shares his harrowing experience of 20-hour workdays, electric taser punishments, and complete movement control inside compounds like KK Park in Myanmar.
This conversation includes a major revelation: Small Q identifies being held in two separate notorious compounds. He provides crucial insights into how these criminal operations have evolved since 2020. Learn how recruiters in Uganda and across Africa lure victims with promises of legitimate data-entry jobs paying $1,200 monthly — only to traffic them into forced scam labor.
Small Q discusses his path to freedom, his music of hope and resilience, and his mission to raise awareness about human trafficking and crypto scams. This episode is essential listening for fraud prevention professionals, law enforcement, potential job seekers in Africa, and anyone concerned about the intersection of human trafficking and financial crime.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and other major podcast platforms.
Who Is Small Q?
Small Q (Mwesezi Gideon) is a Ugandan recording artist, songwriter, and survivor-activist known for blending Afrobeat, trap, and traditional African rhythms. A former human trafficking victim in Myanmar, he turned personal tragedy into music and activism. Small Q uses his platform to raise awareness of modern-day slavery and empower youth through storytelling and sound.
We originally met Small Q in Episode 11 of the Stolen podcast.
Useful Links
Freedom Collaborative: Trafficking of East Africans into Scam Operations
A new report documents how East African nationals are being deceived and forced into criminal activity within Southeast Asia’s scam industry.
Abducted in Thailand and Forced to Scam
Reuters | Illustrations to tell the story of Oly, an IT consultant who flew from Ethiopia to Thailand to meet a friend for a few days. He was trapped in Southeast Asia for five months.
Sponsors of Stolen
BioCatch prevents financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, continuously collecting 3,000 anonymized data points – keystroke and mouse activity, touch screen behavior, physical device attributes, and more – as people interact with their digital banking platforms. With these inputs, BioCatch's models reveal patterns that distinguish the criminal from the legitimate.
Scamnetic is a leader in AI-powered scam detection and prevention, protecting individuals, businesses, and financial institutions from digital scams. With solutions like KnowScam and IDeveryone, Scamnetic delivers real-time scam insights, identity verification, and intervention. Restoring trust, reducing losses, and empowering organizations to safeguard customers in an increasingly complex digital world.
Recent Episodes of Stolen
