{"id":3218,"date":"2025-12-08T02:52:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T02:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=3218"},"modified":"2025-12-08T02:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T02:52:12","slug":"global-scams-from-southeast-asias-pig-butchering-to-russias-black-widows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=3218","title":{"rendered":"Global Scams, From Southeast Asia’s Pig Butchering to Russia’s ‘Black Widows’"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the multibillion-dollar online scam industry that has proliferated in Southeast Asia, where so-called pig butchering schemes run out of industrial-scale scam factories use trust to lure unassuming victims into handing over money.<\/p>\n

These cons have not only swindled victims out of billions of dollars, but also fueled human trafficking and potentially even the Thai-Cambodian border crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the multibillion-dollar online scam industry that has proliferated in Southeast Asia, where so-called pig butchering schemes run out of industrial-scale scam factories use trust to lure unassuming victims into handing over money.<\/p>\n

These cons have not only swindled victims out of billions of dollars, but also fueled human trafficking and potentially even the Thai-Cambodian border crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Scam compounds are just one kind of grift with international consequences that Foreign Policy <\/em>has covered recently. This edition of the Reading List sheds light on scams past and present, including the U.S. Navy\u2019s infamous entanglement with Malaysian felon \u201cFat Leonard,\u201d the cryptocurrency con years of the early 2020s, and the cracks in regulatory frameworks that have fueled their rise.<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n <\/span>
Workers ride their motor-cart loaded with glass past a branch of the Prince Bank in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Oct. 15.<\/figcaption>

Workers ride their motor-cart loaded with glass past a branch of the Prince Bank in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Oct. 15.Tang Chhin Sothy\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Is Cambodia\u2019s Scam Industry Too Big to Fail?<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

New sanctions on the world\u2019s wealthiest criminal could threaten the Hun dynasty, Jack Adamovi\u0107 Davies writes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n \"A
\n <\/span>
A photo illustration of Sam Bankman-Fried surrounded by Bitcoin with a smirk on his face.<\/figcaption>

Foreign Policy Illustration<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

The Crypto Con Years Aren\u2019t Over Yet<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

Three books explore the failures of regulators\u2014and sometimes journalists, David Gerard writes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n \"A
\n <\/span>
A photo collage illustration shows Navy brass pictured with Fat Leonard raising glasses against a backdrop of Navy ships in the Pacific. Overlaid text reads: Wanted by U.S. Marshals next to a round image of Fat Leonard applying a spa facial mask.<\/figcaption>

A photo collage illustration shows U.S. Navy brass pictured with Leonard Glenn Francis, known as \u201cFat Leonard,\u201d raising glasses against a backdrop of Navy ships in the Pacific. Foreign Policy illustration\/Getty Images, AP, and NCIS-DCIS case file photos<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018Fat Leonard\u2019 Was a Crook U.S. Admirals Called Bro<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

In the Navy, you can do as you please, FP\u2019s James Palmer writes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n \"A
\n <\/span>
A pile of mostly red flowers rests at the feet of a statue of a soldier. Behind it are the large letters Z and V and graves.<\/figcaption>

A monument to Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine stands at a burial site in Kostroma, Russia, on Oct. 20. Andrey Borodulin\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Deathonomics of Putin\u2019s War<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cBlack widows\u201d marrying soldiers to collect death benefits are symptomatic of society-wide rot, Alexey Kovalev writes.<\/p>\n

\n

\n \"A
\n <\/span>
A sign warning against illegal work online is pictured in Thailand’s Mae Sot district near the Myanmar border on Feb. 11.<\/figcaption>

A sign warning against illegal work online is pictured in Thailand\u2019s Mae Sot district near the Myanmar border on Feb. 11. Lillian Suwanrumpha\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

China Can\u2019t Keep Its Hands Clean in Myanmar\u2019s Scam Cities<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

Ties between organized crime syndicates and Chinese intelligence run deep, Benedict Rogers writes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the multibillion-dollar online scam industry that has proliferated in Southeast Asia, where so-called pig butchering schemes run out of industrial-scale scam factories use trust to lure unassuming victims into handing over money. These cons have not only swindled victims out of billions of dollars, but also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politcical-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}