For the past few years, it’s escaped no one that levels of Internet and telephone fraud have skyrocketed. TIME reports that one in four adults worldwide lost money to scams last year, according to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance NGO, while 13 percent encountered an attempted scam at least once a day. Globally, over $1 trillion is lost to online fraud annually in what the U.N. has dubbed a “scamdemic.”
The vast majority originates from Southeast Asia, where some 300,000 people from over 65 countries have been trafficked into fortified compounds predominantly in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. From these “scam prisons,” victims are forced to orchestrate romance-investment cons, crypto fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling.
The AI revolution that had already upended every industry is lending a helping hand to scams: Firstly, by generating bespoke scam scripts, translating cons into a variety of languages, and creating fake photos and videos to more convincingly dupe victims. Secondly, AI is displacing swathes of entry-level tech jobs, with hiring by big tech companies halving over the past three years, meaning there’s no shortage of willing recruits with the talent and wherewithal to wreak havoc across the globe.
“AI is making it harder and harder for people to get a job, especially those with a criminal background,” says Hieu Minh Ngo, a Vietnamese former hacker turned cybersecurity specialist who founded the non-profit Chong Lua Dao, or Scam Fighters. “Before, people got trafficked against their will to scam compounds. Nowadays, people go there willingly to work.”
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