An article posted on Telegram’s Southeast Asia Wanted Notice channel starts with two simple questions – “Are all the scammers losing money this year? Are the good times over”.
As scam bosses face an influx of new copycat scam centers in Cambodia, competition is heating up and there is less scam money to divide. To make matters worse recent crackdowns on compounds in Myanmar is forcing scam centers to repeatedly move, costing them big money.
While some veterans appear to still be making money, the new centers might be struggling.
A Channel For Scam Bosses And Gambling Schemes
The Southeast Asia Wanted Notice channel is somewhat of a news and alert channel for Pig Butchering Bosses.
The channel which boast over 100,000 subscribers was originally started to recover scam compound slaves who had escaped and in some cases recovering victims and returning them to their families. The channel also posts bounty rewards for people who have skipped out on gambling loans from the bosses.
A year ago, advertisements for bountys appeared all over the channel, offering rewards for people that could range from $2000 up to $28,000. The payments are all promised in Chinese Yuan.
One advertisement promised a payment of $21,000 if someone could return the escapee. And if they couldn’t, they could still make $7,000 to provide clues to aid in his recapture.
A Scam GoldRush Has Resulted In A Glut Of Scam Compounds
Erin West, the founder of Operation Shamrock was shocked after a recent trip to the region and posted her experience on Linkedin.
“It’s a construction frenzy”, West say. “There is construction everywhere on a massive scale in remote Cambodian outpost”.
Those newly constructed centers are adding the glut of scam centers that already exist.
Experts estimate that there are 300 scam compounds in Cambodia now and believe that 20 to 30 more compounds have been constructed since November 2024. Those compounds house approximately 100,000 scammers.
Add to that an additional 400 scam centers in Laos and Myanmar and its easy to see why scam bosses are complaining.
There is just too much competition.
With 3 to 5 Million Initial Contacts A Day, Consumers Are Catching On
The 700+ scam centers are busy. Maybe too busy.
With an estimated 350,000 scam workers, experts estimate that they generate between 3 to 5 million initial contacts to scam victims a day – many times hitting the same targets over and over.
With this volume, consumers are catching on and are less likely to fall for the scams. This is probably why profits are falling and why the scam compounds are generating less profits.
“Competition is to fierce” remarks one person on Telegram. Another laments, “It’s getting harder to make money” and someone comments soon after, “This job is really tiring”.
The Next Threat – New Scams
The fact scam bosses are complaining that they are not profitable can only mean one thing – they are going to innovate and come up with new scams that work better.
Those scam centers are not going to sit idle. We need to prepared for the next wave.
