Back in March, my scam operation in Laos fell apart. A few of the guys were done with Southeast Asia and decided to head back to China. I had some baggage back home, so I opted to lay low and stay behind in Laos.
The boys kept their heads down for about two months after landing in China. Local police even pulled them in for a chat about what they had been up to overseas, but nothing came of it and they walked away fine. By May, though, they couldn't sit still anymore. They decided to rent a place in a small southern city and set up a new rig targeting Western markets. To get them off the ground, I reached out to a USDT broker I knew and converted 15,000 USDT to send over as startup capital.
The new operation took off smoothly and started making money. By mid-July, we were ready to split the profits, so I got back in touch with the same crypto dealer to swap our USDT into RMB cash. But right after I transferred the crypto, both the dealer and my guy who went to pick up the cash vanished. Two hours later, the rest of the crew working out of the apartment went totally dark too.
At first, I thought someone pulled a double-cross and stole the pot. But nine days later, a relative of one of the guys called to tell me they had all been arrested for fraud, money laundering, and illegal possession of cryptocurrency. Turns out the USDT broker was working with the cops and led them straight to the door. The authorities are piling on charges now, and no one knows how many years they are going to get.
I guess that's just how the cards fall. When you choose this life, you eventually have to face the law.
