Human trafficking victim says he was forced to target Canadians in crypto investment scam

A man who targeted Canadians for cryptocurrency investment scams is speaking out after escaping the Cambodian compound where he was forced to do it. 

In an exclusive interview with CBC's Marketplace, the Malaysian man says he became a victim of human trafficking after he answered a post on a Facebook group advertising a customer service job with a Cambodian casino.

John, whose real name CBC has agreed to withhold to protect his safety, spent four months with others essentially held captive in compounds in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. While there, he was forced to start conversations with strangers online, gain their trust and convince them to make dubious investments.

"If we don't follow [the rules], we will be beaten or electric-shocked," he said.

John said it all started when he was laid off from his job at a Cambodian casino during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and forced to move back to Thailand, where he was previously based. After four months without work, he became desperate. He was relieved when he saw an online ad for a casino in a different Cambodian city, and that his new employer would fly him there with all expenses paid.

Soon after arriving in Sihanoukville, John was locked into a unit on the fourth floor of a compound and had his passport confiscated. While in Cambodia, he was forced to target Canadians and other English-speaking Westerners in cryptocurrency scams designed to steal their life savings.

"We [were] always at the fourth floor to eat, to work, to sleep, to take a shower," John said, who warned others to be wary of accepting a job that seems to come too easily. 

"Once you get into the scam compound, that might be your life — gone."

According to Canada's Anti-Fraud Centre, fraud and cyber-crime reports totalled $530 million in victim losses in 2022, up 40 per cent from $380 million the previous year. Investment scams, particularly ones involving cryptocurrency, represent the highest victim losses in Canada, at more than $300 million in 2023, beating out romance scams, phishing and other fraud.

The scams John was involved in are often referred to as the "pig-butchering scams," where a scammer lures a victim into an online relationship or friendship to gain their trust and then convinces them to invest in cryptocurrency. 

The pig is "fattened" as the victim pours more money into crypto and watches it grow on a fake investment platform. The pig is "slaughtered" when the scammer disappears with the money.

This is what happened to an Edmonton dad who had read about big returns on investment in cryptocurrency and wanted to learn how to get involved. 

Peter, whose name CBC has agreed to change to protect his professional reputation, said he saw an ad on Facebook in April 2022 offering crypto-investment coaching through a company called Cryptos Circus. He had recently inherited some money and thought if he could invest it, he might be able to afford a cabin to share with his family, as well as help his mother, who had recently moved into a nursing home.

Peter decided to inquire, and was paired with a broker named Daniel Lawrence, who trained him how and when to buy cryptocurrency to turn a profit.