Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds

Cybercrime appears to be growing, and despite the warnings, victims are still lured into cunning traps originating in Southeast Asia. The authors report on interviews with survivors of scam compounds in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. Survivors came from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Uganda, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and Brazil. The book is filled with stories of scam operations, the slave conditions of the deceived workers, and their helplessness once they have been lured into the system. The book covers many stories of the dismal conditions and the unreliability of legal or government assistance. Many of the sources are in Asian languages, so the author’s translations are essential. The reader can only be astonished and horrified by the accounts of this nefarious cybercrime scenario. What is especially concerning is that the governments seem to ignore the cybercrime industry and offer no help for its victims. It is heavy and depressing reading.