Pig butchering: The vicious love scam trapping victims around the world

Many are trafficked and held captive in vast compounds under the guard of armed militia, on the lawless Myanmar side of the Thailand border.

In other words, there are two sets of victims to a frightening new wave of romance and cryptocurrency scams: the scammed and the scammers forced to do the bidding of vicious Chinese gangsters.

60 Minutes travelled to the border area, next to Mae Sot, Thailand, where the scam factories operate on an industrial scale.

And we heard first-hand about the brutal conditions inside, from two men who managed to bribe their way to freedom.

"They would beat us very badly," one of the men said.

"Fifteen days no food, no water. 15 days locked in the room.

After being smuggled back to Thailand, they were picked up by aid workers Judah Tanna and Amy Miller from Global Advance Projects and Acts of Mercy.

We filmed as the two men showed Judah and Amy their bruised bodies.

"This is with the rod [and] hammer … electric shock," they said, explaining their injuries.

Australian Mechelle Moore, from Global Alms, was also part of the team that rescued the men.

Much of her time in Mae Sot is dedicated to helping trafficked workers.

"They were beaten very, very badly," she said.

"They were held down and then hammers and metal pipes were used to beat their bodies.

"They have a lot of swelling, they have a lot of bruising all over their bodies.

"Sometimes you're beaten immediately and it's to scare you into complying. Other times you're beaten because you're not meeting your scamming targets."

And, don't be fooled - these aren't just everyday scams.

They've become so sophisticated, the compounds even use groundbreaking artificial intelligence to turn scammers into attractive men or women, so they can continue their ruse even when targets request a video call.

The trafficked workers are even given scripts, detailing psychological techniques to build a friendship and possible romance with victims, who they often reach out to on popular dating apps.

The scams even have a nickname, "pig butchering", because scammers "fatten" up their victims by building trust, then "go in for the slaughter" by subtly convincing them to invest on fake cryptocurrency platforms.

Erin West, a deputy prosecutor in Santa Clara, is trying to claw back millions of dollars for American victims.

"This is a romance scam times a million," she said.

"This is a romance scam that's literally going to decimate the rest of the western world."

Benedikt Hoffman, from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is based in Bangkok and advises law enforcement agencies around the world.

"We haven't seen anything like this in the world before," he said.

"We're seeing that the scamming industry and the scam centres are at least in the same range of profitability as the drug trade.

"And we are quickly seeing it eclipsing the drug trade - you can target anyone at any time, and so the potential is much bigger.

There are many Australian victims too, including a woman we'll call Sarah.

The 45-year-old is too devastated - and embarrassed - to give her real name, even though law enforcement says there's no shame in being conned by the sophisticated scams.

Sarah lost $100,000 to a man she met on a dating app, who cleverly groomed her over several months.

"This is endemic," she told 60 Minutes.

"It's happening to so many people and I don't think people are realising what's going on.

"You lose your confidence in yourself and your trust in people. You just want to hibernate … and it's a crime that's being committed against you. And one of the hardest things is, is that I'm also complicit in that myself.

"And they're getting to people through one of life's greatest things, which is love and romance."

Watch the full episode of 60 Minutes on 9Now.

For more information about the human trafficking crisis in Myanmar, visit Global Alms Incorporated, Global Advance Projects and Acts of Mercy International.