When Investors Become the “Fat Pigs”

The Cambodia Crypto Fraud Case and What It Teaches Us About Trust, Tech, and Human Nature

(Inspired by the recent AP story and themes from my book, Undermined) The shocking tactics used in scams, often referred to as “pig butcher,” have been detailed in a recent AP Source →

We all think we’re smarter than the scam.
But every time a new crypto fraud story hits the news, it feels like a mirror — showing just how thin the line really is between confidence and overconfidence.

Last week’s AP News story about a Cambodian conglomerate founder charged in a $14 billion crypto fraud wasn’t just another “bad actor caught” headline. It’s a reflection of something much bigger — how trust and technology have become tools that can either build empires or destroy lives.

And if you’ve read Undermined, you already know where I’m going with this.

A billion-dollar butcher shop

Let’s start with the basics.

U.S. prosecutors say this wasn’t a quick hack or a rug pull — it was an industrial-scale operation. A mix of human trafficking, digital manipulation, and financial laundering — all under the guise of “investment opportunities.”

This is what’s called a “pig-butchering” scam.
It’s not a flattering term, but it’s accurate. Victims are “fattened up” with trust — often through long conversations, fake relationships, or months of messaging — before their savings are drained into fake crypto platforms.

And it’s not just about losing money. Many of the “scammers” themselves are victims — trafficked workers forced to con others.
That’s the part the headlines barely touch.
This isn’t just cybercrime — it’s human exploitation wearing a digital mask.

The real danger isn’t crypto — it’s confidence

Crypto gets the blame, but the real story is about people — how easily we can be manipulated when emotions enter the equation.

These scams don’t start with blockchain; they start with loneliness, curiosity, or ambition.
They use tech, but they prey on psychology.

I wrote about this in Undermined:
how in a world built on digital trust, a single false assumption — a mis-click, a fake friend, a too-good-to-be-true return — can spiral into life-changing loss.

In my own experience, I wasn’t tricked by greed — I was tricked by trust.
And that’s what makes this case hit home.
Because anyone who thinks “it could never be me” is already halfway there.

Why the Cambodia case matters

  1. It shows the scale — $14 billion isn’t a typo. This is organized crime running like a global business.
  2. It’s cross-border — crypto doesn’t care about national boundaries, and neither do criminals.
  3. It exposes the gap — regulators are sprinting to catch up to a system that evolves daily.
  4. It humanizes fraud — behind every transaction ID is someone who believed.

The term “pig-butchering” sounds cartoonish, but what’s happening is anything but.
People are trapped.
Some are trafficked into scam centers; others are trapped emotionally, waiting for their “returns” to hit a wallet that never existed.

Undermined — and the lesson that keeps repeating

When I wrote Undermined, I wasn’t just telling a story about one person losing crypto.
I was telling a story about how the system itself is undermined — how trust, transparency, and technology collide in unpredictable ways.

The Cambodia case is a modern echo of that.
The tools have changed — the platforms, the apps, the wallets — but the underlying problem hasn’t:
we keep confusing technology with trust.

Blockchain is trustless by design, but humans are not.
We still want to believe in people, projects, and promises.
That’s what makes innovation exciting — and dangerous.

What this means for the rest of us

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
You can’t “spot a scam” by looking at code. You spot it by watching people.

If someone online:

  • Rushes trust faster than they should,
  • Promises guaranteed returns, or
  • Tries to isolate you from outside advice —

That’s not “networking.” That’s grooming.

Whether you’re sending crypto, buying NFTs, or just chatting with a “mentor,” pause and verify.
Because the next big scam won’t look like a scam. It’ll look like an opportunity — until it’s not.

Final thought

The AP article is a reminder that crypto’s future depends not just on code, but on character.
Technology can’t protect us from our own assumptions.
And if we don’t learn that lesson — the hard way, the expensive way — then the same cycle will keep repeating.

In Undermined, I wrote:

“The blockchain never lied to me — people did.”

And that’s still true today.
Whether in Cambodia or California, the scam doesn’t start in the blockchain.
It starts in the inbox.

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