Process
Status Items Highlights Done See section below Claims None Questions None Output None
Highlights
id894713242
We see scam compounds as one of the latest manifestations of predatory capitalism.
id894713254
The compounds in Southeast Asia are like a more extreme form of special economic zones. It’s pure segregation: you have walls, surveillance, barbed wire, guards everywhere, and cameras, and state actors are complicit in it.
id894713266
labor organization and workforce control. These employers provide accommodation and try to control the workforce by organizing all aspects of production. The workers are trapped inside premises where they sleep, eat, and live.
id894713273
data extraction. Scam compounds, like legitimate tech companies, extract data from users in sophisticated ways. It’s an industry based on the appropriation of information, with a very strong personal component. By making their victims feel seen and heard, they cultivate a kind of addiction.
id894713287
dispossession and proletarianization. Many of the people who end up in the compounds are from low-income backgrounds, with only basic education. They’re often from families who’ve lost their livelihoods or are young people struggling to find well paid work. They’re desperate, they feel responsible for their families, and they don’t have decent alternatives to gain a living.
id894712779
This kind of industry thrives on economic hardship. It expanded rapidly during the COVID pandemic, when mobility was limited, it was difficult to find work, and people were feeling lonely, miserable, and stressed. This created demand for the kind of “services” that scammers provide, and it’s much easier to target people who are isolated.
✏️ Economic hardship and capitalistic traits are creating both sides of the supply/demand. This paragraph is the demand side.. people are miserable and lonely and stressed because capitalism creates that environment. 🔗 View Highlight
id894713005
At the same time, a lot of people lost their jobs, and many family business went bankrupt. Many people were so desperate to find work that when somebody came up saying “I have something for you,” they didn’t question it — and ended up in compounds. Maybe in normal times, they would have thought twice about going to a new country.
✏️ This is the supply side.. people who are desperate and need work and have to work to survive and support their families.. again, capitalism for the win here. 🔗 View Highlight