How Much Did Americans Lose to Online Scams?

Mariana van Zeller said the Consumer Federation of America estimated that Americans lost $148 billion to online scams last year. She said the daily total is $400 million stolen from Americans.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Brazil, India, the Philippines, and all around the world are lured by what they think will be online jobs. Once they arrive, operators take their passports and force them to scam Americans. Mariana van Zeller said she has been trying to make a film about the compounds after reporting on traffic, and she calls the people inside enslaved. The report came out about two months earlier, and a lot of the theft runs through pig butchering compounds.

The name comes from a Chinese expression for fattening the pig. Scammers give a victim love or pretend a big payday is coming, build confidence and trust, then take the money. They reach targets through dating apps, social media, or unsolicited text messages, then move the chat to WhatsApp or Telegram, learn the person's financial situation and family dynamics, and build a deep emotional connection. Organized criminals use a highly scripted process and human trafficking to steal as much money as they can.