How Crypto Scam Compounds Use Romance to Make Billions

Last year, a mysterious source reached out to WIRED’s senior writer Andy Greenberg — someone who claimed to be an engineer trapped in a scam compound in Laos. According to the whistleblower, the compound’s illicit tactics specialized in pig butchering scams: sophisticated online tactics to build a romantic, trustworthy relationship with a victim before scamming them. Brian sat down with Andy earlier this year to break down how the whistleblower revealed — and fled — the inner operations of the compound. Originally published on February 5th. Articles mentioned in this episode: He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive | WIRED Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from the newest ventures to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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How Crypto Scam Compounds Use Romance to Make Billions is an episode from Gadget Lab: Weekly Tech News by WIRED.

This episode is 16:47 long.

This episode was published on May 28, 2026.

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