Chinese scammers used Isle of Man for 'pig-butchering' con

A seaside hotel and office block were used by scam artists who tricked people out of millions of dollars.

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The dining room and lounge at the Seaview Hotel in Douglas were packed with dozens of Chinese workers, we have been told, on computers hooked up to fast broadband. A specialist wok hob had also been delivered to the hotel’s kitchen.

The deception, which happened between January 2022 and January 2023 according to Chinese court documents, used a method known as "pig-butchering". It is so-called because the process of “fattening the pig” - gaining the victim’s trust - is vital to its success.

The BBC spent nearly a year establishing how the investment scam was carried out from the island, which is a British Crown dependency with an independent government.

We also uncovered other details, such as how bosses had big ambitions to build a state-of-the-art office complex overlooking the Irish Sea.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz6x1ql1yelo

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