#1
Scamming is big business. According to the Global State of Scams 2025 report, 7 in 10 adults worldwide encountered a scam last year, with 13% encountering a scam at least once a day. The Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) reveals that international scammers steal more than $1 trillion every year.
"To put that in perspective, that figure eclipses the entire global airline industry which was valued at $996 billion in 2024," says Damien Dugauquier, co-founder & CEO of iPiD, a fintech company specializing in global payee data verification and fraud prevention.
"If scamming were a country, specifically the 'United Republic of Scams,' its GDP of $1.03 trillion would make it the 17th or 18th largest economy in the world," adds Dugauquier.
#3
The expert calls scamming a global crisis, but adds that often, those doing the dirty work aren't willing criminals. Dugauquier reveals that the "supply-side" of the scamming industry is filled with tales of human trafficking. Desperate people are being lured by job ads promising easy work for big money. But once they arrive, their passports are confiscated, and they are trapped in criminality.
According to a UN report, hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into online scam compounds across Southeast Asia alone. "There are around 120,000 in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia alone," says Dugauquier.
#4
#5
#6
Also sheet sets. There is a physical limitation on weaving of around 500 thread count. Anything higher is made by fudging the number- either by weaving two small yarns together into one (double pick) or bonding two layers together (double ply).
Survivors have told how they were held in massive compounds resembling self-contained towns. These compounds can be over 500 acres big and are nothing more than glorified prisons. "[They're] made up of heavily fortified multi-storey buildings with barbed wire-topped high walls, guarded by armed and uniformed security personnel," the United Nations reveals.
Dugauquier says that people inside these cybercrime forced labor camps often work 12- to 16-hour days under armed guard. They face grave punishment if they miss their financial targets.
Meanwhile, the UN report notes how a victim from Sri Lanka failed to meet monthly scamming targets and was subjected to immersion in water containers (known as ’water prisons’) for hours as a result.
#7
In about 99% of cases (not hyperbole), your child’s school is not rigorous and their 4.00 GPA means absolute jack. Grade inflation is WILD. It has gotten to the point where I have to hold back my judgment when HS students at graduation are like “we did it!”
You would have to be severely disabled to not pass HS today. Schools are now HEAVILY incentivized to pass you along.
The shameful part is that some students ARE actual 4.0 students, but their grades are diluted so bad that I cannot tell an idiot from someone who actually worked and gain something. Thus, two students - both with 4.0s - can be standing next to each other and one is MUCH more talented.
And don’t get me started on discipline. I would say about 20% of kids are not fit for the traditional HS environment. I wish I were kidding.
#8
#9
Once the title runs "out", the library has to pay usually the full price for the title again. And again, the price is often outrageous.
All that said, please do check out ebooks. We need the stats. But also please be kind when requesting books. Ebook budgets often blow past physical book budgets with fewer titles.
Interpol has warned that scamming is becoming increasingly sophisticated and diverse, and often overlaps with other illicit markets, such as firearms and wildlife trafficking. The international policing body's June 2025 crime trend update revealed that victims from more than 60 countries have been trafficked into scam centers worldwide, including areas far beyond Southeast Asia.
The UN report backs this up, noting that its findings were based on interviews with survivors from Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
#10
#11
It is a common practice for government agencies to spend 100% of their fiscal budget each year. They do this so to they can get a funding increase the following year and to avoid a funding cut.
Agencies will spend their budget like normal for 8-10 months then evaluate how much of their funding is left. Then they find creative ways to deplete it before the fiscal year is over.
This leads to god knows how much waste that tax payers are paying for.
#12
Dugauquier says the scam industry has two sets of victims: "those pressed to send money to the wrong account, and those being violently pressed to convince them to do so." Thus, he adds, stopping fraud isn’t just about protecting consumers. "It’s about reducing the incentives that lead people to be trafficked into becoming scammers."
#13
#14
#15
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called the situation heartbreaking. “There must be increased availability and accessibility of safe labour migration pathways and meaningful oversight of recruitment such as verification of online job postings and flagging suspicious recruitment patterns,” Türk said.
#16
#17
#18
they'll charge you like 200 bucks to recover files that you can get back yourself with free software in most cases, and those extended warranties basically never cover anything that actually breaks. meanwhile they're selling you a 3 year plan for more than half what the laptop costs.
#19
#20
Talk to your elderly relatives, try to keep in touch as much as possible. The whole world is trying to rob them blind.