Scam: Inside Southeast Asia's Cybercrime Compounds

by Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li, Mark Bo

Overview

A probing investigation of Southeast Asia’s online scam industry – told through the voices of survivors

Running the gamut from the infamous ‘pig butchering’ romance con to sophisticated online extortion and investment fraud, Southeast Asia has emerged as the global hub for cybercrime. Based on years of field research, Scam takes an in-depth look at the history and inner dynamics of the region’s online scam industry. Revealed are the appalling working conditions — akin to modern slavery — in the hundreds of prisonlike compounds that have mushroomed throughout multiple countries. The result is a shocking exposé of victims forced to be perpetrators, a tragic modern tale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781804296905
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	07/08/2025
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.03(w) x 9.22(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

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 organisations to bring them relief and help with repatriation.

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.

Editorial Reviews

"In recent years the industrialised perpetration of scams from the Far East has gradually become exposed by the media. Very little is known about the origins and workings of this ‘industry’. Scam is the first authoritative and deep investigation by the world’s leading scholars on this subject. It is a meticulously researched, fascinating, and detailed account of these Asian crime groups that is both gripping and harrowing. It is essential reading for anyone interested in frauds, scams, and modern slavery."
—Mark Button, co-author of Cyber Frauds, Scams and Their Victims

"Scam is the definitive account of one of the most pernicious problems of our time, and a landmark study of the evolution of modern crime."
—Zeke Faux, author of Number Go Up

"Scam is a carefully researched, terrifying expose on the secret industry causing untold misery all over the world. One of the most shocking books I've read in years."
—Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism

"Meticulously researched and drawing on rich empirical data, Scam is a comprehensive examination of an illicit trade shrouded in secrecy. Through their great storytelling and probing analysis, Franceschini, Li, and Bo offer readers a close look at the inner workings of the scam compounds in Cambodia, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Laos. This captivating book will be the definitive work on the online scam industry in Southeast Asia for many years."
—Ko-lin Chin, co-author of The Chinese Heroin Trade and author of The Golden Triangle

"Riveting and revelling, Scam brilliantly traces this perverted form of surveillance capitalism from its epicentre in Southeast Asia to global China’s underbelly – the underworld of Chinese-led criminal syndicates, their collusion with non-Chinese political elites, and the slave labour regime that is shockingly both postmodern and primordial. An informative and layered analysis that should be read widely."
—Ching Kwan Lee, author of The Specter of Global China

"Few are better placed to explore the sinister world of cyber scam operations than Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li, and Mark Bo. Brimming with first-hand accounts and painstakingly sought testimonials from survivors of these brutal compounds, their book stands testament to the chaos these operations have wrecked across Southeast Asia and beyond. The authors make the stakes clear, contextualising it within the rise of Global China and the rise of transnational criminal enterprises that have burgeoned alongside it, but never forgetting voices of those enslaved inside these compounds. From forced labour to trafficking to the millions around the world that have lost their life savings, the issue of scams is one of the most pressing of our time. This book is the definitive story of how we got here, of who has profited and who has suffered, and goes beyond easy tropes and narratives. A clear, incisive, and must-read account."
—Shibani Mahtani, co-author of Among the Braves

"Enslaved and extremely online, the captives at the heart of this book express the grim paradoxes and intolerable realities of our present more than anything I’ve read about in years."
—Quinn Slobodian, author of Crack-Up Capitalism

"[An] eye-opening investigation...the authors make an ominous prediction that increasing alienation, economic desperation, and technological advancement will lead to more such exploitation of both scammers and scammed alike. It’s a shocking exposé of a little-known underworld and a frightening glimpse into a growing threat."
—Publishers Weekly

"This excellent, rigorously researched study lays out how the complicity of local officials and the vast wealth that can be achieved through cybercrime make this a problem that won’t go away easily."
—Bloomberg

"In Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds, Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li, and Mark Bo delve into the structure of this powerful shadow industry. Seeking to move beyond sensationalist headlines and stereotypes, they conducted interviews with hundreds of victims of these scam compounds. Their research paints a grim picture of a growing aspect of contemporary capitalism."
—Chris Dite, Jacobin

"Fascinating ... one of the first books to provide a comprehensive overview of this alarming criminal industry."
—Tom Knowles, Telegraph

From the Publisher