Scam Factory, with Denise Chan

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know

iHeartPodcasts

Society & Culture

4.3 • 10.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's a harrowing story, often untold in the West: while everyone's tired of scam calls and texts, we rarely ask about the lives of people on the other side of the call. While it's devilishly easy to make light of the scammers and the con artists, the harsh reality is that thousands of people pushing scams are being forced to do so, often held against their will in what amounts to modern-day slavery. Following up on their earlier episode investigating the terrifying scam compounds in Myanmar, Ben, Matt and Noel welcome special guest, the award-winning journalist Dennis Chan, to learn more about the continuing catastrophe in her newest project, Scam Factory, by Wondery.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is riddled with unexplained events.
0:06.8	You can turn back now or learn the stuff they don't want you to know.
0:11.9	A production of IHeart Radio. Hello, welcome back to the show.
0:26.1	My name is Matt.
0:26.9	My name is Noel.
0:28.0	They call me bed.
0:29.4	We are joined as always with our super producer, Andrew the Triforce Howard.
0:34.4	Most importantly, you are you.
0:36.1	You are here.
0:41.6	That makes this. The stuff they don't want you to know. I suggest we begin with a callback. Matt Newell, not too long ago, we explored a harrowing story about Myanmar, especially the troubled scam industry there. And we exercise
0:59.7	some empathy. We asked a question a lot of people don't ask, which is when you get those
1:06.4	crazy phone calls, who's on the other line? You know, who's on the other end of the phone?
1:12.9	Oh, yeah. And we talked about specifically the geography of Myanmar and how many borders
1:18.3	it shares with other countries where you can just travel across a river. And now you're in
1:23.5	Myanmar that is going through all kinds of political turmoil, a very dangerous place to be.
1:33.4	Yeah, what you might call civil and social and governmental unrest.
1:37.7	It's some areas being completely lawless.
1:42.7	And we also know, just as you do, fellow conspiracy realist, that stories continue
1:51.2	long after a headline fades from your favorite subreddit or your favorite paper of notes.
1:58.2	So we kept digging.
1:59.8	And tonight we are following up on a deeper dive into the
2:04.2	active criminal enterprises of online scams. Not just in Myanmar, but around the globe.
	...

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