Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds

Human trafficking and torture are rampant in the shadowy Southeast Asian compounds “where cyberfraud is practiced on an industrial scale,” according to this eye-opening investigation. Asian studies scholars Franceschini (Proletarian China), Li, and Bo examine these insidious compounds from multiple angles, including their parasitic relationship with local communities; prevalent scam methods like “pig butchering” wherein “scammers take on fictional profiles, initiate contact with hapless marks, and then slowly gain their trust”; and the difficulty of escape for workers—the compounds are typically repurposed housing blocks surrounded by “high-voltage electricity cables... and armed sentries.” Though at times a bit dry, the account is at its most riveting when offering harrowing testimonies from trafficking victims, many of whom answered what they thought were legitimate job ads and found themselves transported across borders, imprisoned, constantly surveilled, and routinely threatened with and subjected to violence and sexual assault; some were also “sold between different operators.” Even when they managed to escape, they remained stranded in countries without proper documentation or ended up prosecuted for their cyberfraud as criminals rather than treated as victims. The authors make an ominous prediction that increasing alienation, economic desperation, and technological advancement will lead to more such exploitation of both scammers and scammed alike. It’s a shocking exposé of a little-known underworld and a frightening glimpse into a growing threat. (July)