Victim-offender overlap: the identity transformations experienced by trafficked Chinese workers escaping from pig-butchering scam syndicate

This study explores the intersection of human trafficking and online romance fraud within the context of the pig-butchering scam (Sha Zhu Pan, 杀猪盘). While the scam is widely recognized for combining romance and investment fraud through persuasive social engineering, less is known about its reliance on trafficked Chinese workers who are coerced into perpetrating scams. The paper examines how these workers undergo identity transformations, occupying the dual roles of victim and offender. Drawing on 36 victim testimonials published on Zhihu and WeChat Official Accounts, the study employs thematic analysis to map a four-stage model of transformation: Onset (deceptive entry): Workers are lured by fake job ads or recruitment through acquaintances, often promised high salaries and comfortable living conditions. Some are deceived via legitimate-seeming career fairs. Acculturation (from victims to scammers): Upon arrival in northern Myanmar, workers are subjected to isolation, financial coercion, physical abuse, drug influence, and psychological manipulation. These methods force compliance and push individuals into scamming roles. Turning point: Workers are assessed based on their ability to generate profits. Those failing to meet targets are often resold to other scam operations, treated as commodities. Repeated reselling deepens their entrapment and erodes resistance, while some may transform into willing offenders for financial survival. Escape or continued bondage: A minority escape through luck, rescue operations, or resilience. Survivors often experience shame, regret, and lingering trauma, while others remain trapped, coerced into fraudulent activities indefinitely. The findings highlight forced criminality as a distinctive form of trafficking, where victims are not only exploited for labor but compelled to commit crimes against others. This victim-offender overlap blurs legal and moral boundaries: trafficked workers recognize their coercion yet bear guilt for defrauding others. Many surrender voluntarily to police upon return, while some channel their experiences into awareness and rescue efforts. The study’s contributions are threefold. First, it extends the victim-offender overlap framework to cyberscam trafficking, a domain rarely studied in international contexts. Second, it underscores the industrialized structure of pig-butchering scams, involving recruitment, IT, and money-laundering divisions. Third, it raises urgent policy implications. Governments must strengthen cross-border cooperation in Myanmar to combat trafficking, refine legal definitions of coercion in Chinese law to account for deceptive recruitment and violence, and provide reintegration support for rescued workers. Finally, the article warns of technological risks. With the rise of AI tools such as chatbots and deepfakes, syndicates may reduce reliance on human trafficked labor, making detection even harder. Addressing pig-butchering scams therefore requires not only anti-fraud strategies but also coordinated responses to human trafficking and technological abuse.