By Mark Bo, Ivan Franceschini, and Ling Li
An in-depth investigation of Southeast Asia’s online scam industry and its human toll.
Fuelled by the widespread immiseration caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and facilitated by the boom in cryptocurrencies, online frauds have grown exponentially in recent years. From the infamous “pig butchering” romance scams to sophisticated online extortion ploys, phony crypto schemes, and other investment scams, Southeast Asia has rapidly emerged as a global hub for a host of cybercrime operations targeting individuals all over the world.
Based on years of engagement in the field, this book offers an in-depth look into the rise and inner dynamics of the online scam industry, exposing the appalling situation of the individuals who toil in conditions akin to modern slavery in hundreds of “scam compounds” that have mushroomed all over the region. What are the origins of this industry? Who is behind these operations? How do people end up in them? How is their labor organized? How do they manage to get out? These and other questions are at the center of this investigation that will bring readers to the core of one of the least-known humanitarian crises of the twenty-first century through the voices of some of its survivors.
Mark Bo is a researcher who has been based in East and Southeast Asia for two decades. He has worked globally with local civil society partners to monitor and advocate for improved environmental and social practices in development projects and utilises his background in corporate and financial mapping to investigate stakeholders involved in Asia’s online gambling, fraud, and money laundering industries.
Ivan Franceschini is a lecturer at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne. His current research focuses on ethnic Chinese transnational crime, especially in the field of online fraud. He co-founded the Made in China Journal and The People’s Map of Global China/ Global China Pulse. His books include Proletarian China (2022), Global China as Method (2022), and Afterlives of Chinese Communism (2019). He also co-directed the documentaries Dreamwork China (2011) and Boramey (2021).
Ling Li is currently pursuing a PhD at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice with a focus on the role of technology in enabling modern slavery and human trafficking in East and Southeast Asia. In the past few years, she has been providing support to survivors of scam compounds in Southeast Asia, interacting with local and international civil society organizations to bring them relief and help with repatriation.
More about Scam
