Jun 15, 2026 · 36 min · 5 segments
When we hear the word 'slavery' it conjures images of slave ships in the 18th century, crossing the Atlantic packed with human cargo bound for the Americas. But in reality, there is more human…
Andrew WallisGuestPaul O'DonoghueDee ReddyHostScam factories, they're this kind of phenomenon which has popped up in the past couple of years.
So I suppose previously, when people were thinking about online scammers, they might have thought about one person sitting behind a laptop.
So these scam factories are essentially the process of online scamming, but industrialized.
So these are giant operations, normally in Southeast Asia, and they basically resemble big corporate offices.
They employ hundreds, sometimes even thousands of people, and they all get in, go into work, and they're essentially dedicated operations just for scamming.
But just, again, going back to thinking of these about being industrial operations, these are very much run like businesses.
And so this is when they're carrying out those kind of scams that we would think about traditionally.
And I suppose, most importantly of all, they have security infrastructure, which are often used to keep workers in.
The UN says they've reached proportions of 300,000 people working in scam operations across the world.
So it's, it's something which has massively ballooned in the past couple of years.
Scam factories, they're this kind of phenomenon which has popped up in the past couple of years.
So I suppose previously, when people were thinking about online scammers, they might have thought about one person sitting behind a laptop.
So these scam factories are essentially the process of online scamming, but industrialized.
So these are giant operations, normally in Southeast Asia, and they basically resemble big corporate offices.
They employ hundreds, sometimes even thousands of people, and they all get in, go into work, and they're essentially dedicated operations just for scamming.
But just, again, going back to thinking of these about being industrial operations, these are very much run like businesses.
And so this is when they're carrying out those kind of scams that we would think about traditionally.
And I suppose, most importantly of all, they have security infrastructure, which are often used to keep workers in.
The UN says they've reached proportions of 300,000 people working in scam operations across the world.
So it's, it's something which has massively ballooned in the past couple of years.
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