A Kenyan trafficking survivor says AI tool ChatGPT was deployed at scale inside a Southeast Asian scam compound, where hundreds of forced laborers were ordered to pose as American investors and funnel victims into bogus crypto schemes.
Duncan Okindo, 26, says he was lured to Thailand with the promise of a customer service job last year, then abducted and taken across the border to KK Park, a heavily guarded compound in Myanmar, reports Reuters.
He says he spent four months working under armed supervision before escaping in April. Inside the facility, Okindo says workers sat in large rooms lined with desktop computers. Many used a free version of ChatGPT to impersonate US real estate investors and pitch non-existent cryptocurrency opportunities to agents they found on property sites, including Zillow.
Says Okindo,
“ChatGPT was the most-used AI tool to help scammers do their thing.”
He says that the chatbot allowed him and others to mimic local expressions, adopt convincing personas, and improvise technical answers when prospects pressed them on crypto or housing markets.
Okindo says bosses set strict quotas: at least two victims a day persuaded to deposit funds and a minimum of 10 active conversations at all times. Workers who failed targets were subjected to violence, while big wins were marked with drum-pounding celebrations.
Scripts outlined how to build rapport, shift discussions toward crypto, and guide targets into setting up trading accounts that in reality, funneled cash straight to the scammers.
“You need to feel familiar. If you miss any point, the realtor will know that you are a scam.”
Anti-trafficking group HAART Kenya confirmed Okindo was among several nationals freed from scam compounds this year, though Reuters said it could not independently verify all details of his testimony.
OpenAI said it “actively works to identify and disrupt scam-related misuse of ChatGPT,” adding that its model refuses requests that break anti-fraud rules and that investigators cut off violators. Zillow declined to comment.
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