In recent years, people around the world have lost hundreds of millions of dollars to online romance scams.
One of the most profitable of these, which is run by criminal gangs across Southeast Asia, is the “pig butchering romance scam”.
The scammers refer to their victims as pigs, which they fatten to be “butchered” – or cheated, out of as much money as possible.
An investigation by the BBC World Service has spoken to former fraudsters, who reveal the brutal conditions faced by many of those who work as scammers and the sophisticated methods used.
Watch the full documentary on BBC iPlayer, and read our previous coverage on the subject here.
