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Sulin Wong

Showing 1–2 of 2 transcripts.

  1. The Economist38 min

    Scam Inc 3: The bottom line

    Sammy Chen, Jackie Burns, Zannie Minton-Beddoes, Sulin Wong, Rita, Jay Beckhamer, Shane Haynes, Edgar, Bella, Jalil, Sarah, Gavesh, Sam Colbert, Alize Jean-Baptiste, Weidong Lin, Darren, Clare Reid, Rosie Bloor, Heidi Pett, John Shields

    This exposé details the transformation of Myanmar's border fraud compounds into sophisticated, self-contained cities like KK Park, where centralized operations generate hundreds of millions in illicit revenue through a franchise model that treats crime as a legitimate business. The narrative highlights a specific rescue mission where 12 victims were freed from an execution threat by leveraging rebel intermediaries, underscoring the lethal pressure placed on both trafficked individuals and "voluntary" scammers within a global ecosystem estimated to employ 500,000 people. Ultimately, the analysis reveals that dismantling this $100 billion industry requires addressing deep systemic issues, including severe psychological trauma among survivors and the economic rationality that drives some victims to return to the compounds despite the dangers.

  2. The Economist36 min

    Scam Inc 2: Opportunity of a lifetime

    Zannie Minton-Beddoes, Sulin Wong

    Recruited through deceptive job postings, victims from the Philippines, Uganda, South Africa, and South Asia are smuggled into remote Myanmar compounds where they are held captive and forced to execute "Pig Butchering" cryptocurrency scams. These workers endure 16-hour shifts and brutal physical punishment while impersonating wealthy professionals to defraud White Americans aged 40 to 65 of tens of thousands of dollars. Controlled by Chinese-led hierarchies and increasingly industrialized by satellite-confirmed infrastructure, these self-contained operations utilize deepfake technology and strict racial targeting to sustain a vast, transnational fraud network.