A heartfelt message from a GAFA volunteer

Let me tell you a true story of a victim of the pig-killing plate scam.

A woman was defrauded out of 2.92 million yuan (approximately $461,000) in Shanghai.

The man she met on WeChat promised to spend the rest of her life with her. She believed him and believed his words. So she transferred all her savings to him, down to the last penny, until there was nothing left.

The man then flipped 180°, changing his attitude the moment she had nothing left to make him bleed.

She jumped from a building. Her final moments and her last pain were all seen live on WeChat.

The suspect showed no remorse. In fact, it''''s worse. His answer was as follows: "A woman died for me - I will brag about it - for the rest of my life!"

At GAFA, our intelligence team has become numb to the countless cases of suicide around the world - and this week another tragic case was reported by a close friend of the victim on our live chat - straight from these " "dog pusher" (狗PUI, gǒu tuī) is a nickname given to oneself by a liar. Some days it feels there is nothing we can do. We see the nasty, cruel comments people post in response to victims telling their stories. These people have never experienced the pain that our victims have experienced. They called us "stupid" and "greedy." Sometimes they say worse things.

I used to be one of them who would read articles about people getting scammed. I''''ll be the judge. I would scoff.

I will always remember the pig slaughter scam I read about. The woman lost S$80,000 (approximately US$60,000). The way the news article was written, I couldn''''t remember the steps of such an elaborate scam, nor how the scammer gained the woman''''s trust. The article does not detail the distinguishing features of this scam. It doesn''''t tell readers what they should pay attention to.

All I got from this article was that this woman is stupid.

Then I got scammed. I became another pig to be slaughtered.

One liar in particular left a profound impact on me that I couldn''''t shake. To me, this is the saying of the century: "There is no one who can''''t be fooled, only inappropriate s."

Another scammer told me on the phone, "We know we''''re scamming people. We''''re not afraid of getting caught, or even the possibility of getting caught."

After hanging up the phone from him, tears flowed down my cheeks. But one thing is clear to me: He''''s right.

No one has sympathy for us and the law has not caught up with this scam. We, the victims, will not seek justice for our perpetrators. Our money will not be returned to us.

In the end, we lost everything. We lose someone we thought we could trust and love, they betray us, violate us, and then spit out our trust when they are gone. We lost personal wealth. We have lost our self-esteem. our future.

We are helpless.

Social media and wire fraud are only going to get more prevalent. In fact, we''''ve been saying that the butcher''''s platter is the most dangerous and successful scam in modern history. In most scams, people only lose a portion of their savings. In contrast, many victims of pig killing, such as myself, are deeply in debt.

Including myself, at least five victims of GAFA sold their cars and apartments to help manage our debt. Two victims declared bankruptcy, and we noted that several victims decided or attempted to take their own lives due to heavy debt. Many times we meet victims who take decades to pay off their loans. Some even have to take care of young children.

I have spent the past ten months working on anti-fraud education and advocacy, and I will continue to do so. I know how difficult it is to track down and ultimately arrest the perpetrator; in fact, I need to be a realist.

But that doesn''''t stop me from trying.

As GAFA volunteers, we desperately seek help from various government agencies, financial institutions, law enforcement, and social media companies.

We need to change the way people see us.

The victims are not stupid; they are human and that is their only flaw. They care. They trust. It has flesh and blood and emotions. But victims don''''t know that the characters they''''re dealing with are actually a group of scammers posing as individuals. Every message received by our victims is carefully reviewed before being used for responses. The victim''''s psychology is thus broken. (We will write more about this in the future.)

To the victim: Your life is precious. Don''''t let anyone steal your happiness. Don''''t expect your cheater to apologize for his wrongdoing. We can''''t help you get your money back, but we can make sure you have a space you feel safe and won''''t be judged by anyone.

To the casual observer: please don’t rub salt in our wounds. Hear our story. Listen hard. See the humanity behind it all. I studied hard. This isn''''t just a romance scam, but a well-organized scam that doesn''''t even always follow a romance .

To the volunteers around the world who are stationed on our social media platforms 24 hours a day: Thank you for your selfless dedication and dedication of your time to help other victims through the darkest times of their lives.

When we first started, one of my colleagues often said, “If we help even one victim, all our efforts are worth it.” We have now helped thousands of potential victims around the world who are Contacting GAFA before falling victim always puts a smile on our face.

No matter you are, if you are defrauded, please contact us and the GAFA anti-fraud organization will conduct an in-depth analysis based on your case. We will quickly notify a professional team of lawyers to contact you to assist you in successfully recovering the defrauded funds. The Global Anti-Fraud Alliance can help you recover losses from online fraud. Please be careful not to believe the traps set by scammers, and do not believe in plans that promise a guaranteed investment, romantic relationship or friendship. These may be sweet words from scammers.