Scamdemic
Cyberscamming has become a trillion-dollar industry, with the numbers of both scammers and victims soaring over the past three years.
Many young Thais have been enticed by online job advertisements promising well-paid work in Cambodia and Myanmar. but once they cross the border into these “special economic zones” (SEZs), many wind up in the hands of Chinese gangs who confiscate their passports. They’ve been scammed, and now – on pain of death or torture – they’re scammers themselves.
On this edition of Deeper Dive, host Dave Kendall explores the scams, explains how to avoid them and speaks to Nikkei Asia’s Dominic Faulder, author of the award-winning article “Asia’s Scamdemic: how Covid-19 supercharged online crime”.