61–70 of 102 posts
I'm not going to read the "article" because it is a transcript and looks a bit rambly and I don't expect it to be talking about anything interesting. But just going to the headline here; consider the base rate. North America has huge per-capita wealth (by a bit of a margin over most other large players). It is expected that scammers would target them and make the most profit there.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Ask Nigerians how they feel about the fact they can’t interact with most western institutions due to the actions of their worst neighbors. How about you ask Nigerians how they are besides this topic? You think everything is good in Nigeria if it wouldn't be for that scam-issue? In fact, you are displaying your own luxury believes here. It seems you think those scammers would have a normal job if they wouldn't be sc…
Read up on how economic development works. Ask any of the Asian tiger economies that were formerly victims of colonialism how they economically developed out of poverty. Developing trusted institutions leads to outside investment. Outside investment leads to growth. Growth leads to not being poor. When nobody will invest in Nigeria because nobody actually trusts they won’t get bamboozled, this is a fundamental chicke…
A quick catch up for you: those books didn't work. Economics is not a science. You can not use it to generate predictions. It's single useful outcome is a historical one.
> Ask any of the Asian tiger economies
Why should I? It is obvious that some things work in some countries, while the same things might not work just behind the border. Other things might work for some time before they fall apart again because the ground issues with the system are being ignored or circumvented the way you try to do it here.
Nigeria is a very good example here btw. It is a growing economy. An emerging market. It has plenty of resources and the situation could be better for all Nigerians there. But it isn't. Widespread corruption, and the fact that there is an energy crisis putting brakes on the development show that something is off. The main income for the country comes from oil exports. Within the country, oil products needs to be heavily subsidized. Due to the lack of refineries, the oil products need to be bought back from abroad. So who does profit from this scheme? Surely not the Nigerian majority. Their top 5 export partners are: China (23%), Netherlands and Belgium with each 10% and India and the US with ~6%.
Their main import goods are: Petroleum oils, etc, and Durum wheat.
They are being ripped off. In this case, mainly by China, profiting from the corrupt structures which run Nigeria and the population is forced to scam to make a living and not being able to make a change.
Put away your books and your arrogant westerner attitude. Look at the reality out there. It is happening right now.
I struggled to find the source the fact that $1T is lost to scammers. From the FBI internet crime report in 2023 Americans lost about 12.5 Billion dollars [0]. That is far from 1T$. Another source reports cost if cybercrime is reported to reach 9.5T$ in 2024 but again no source provided for that number [1] [0] https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2023_IC3Report.pdf#... [1] https://www.esentire.com/resources/libra…
https://www.economist.com/audio/podcasts/scam-inc
Some highlights
- There are estimated to be 500,000 people working globally as scammers
- It is mostly Chinese Triad led industry
- It is geopolitical: for the government of China it is ok, even desirable, that Americans get scammed
- $1T figure must be too high, as criminal experts estimate the whole global industry to be $200B - $500B
I struggled to find the source the fact that $1T is lost to scammers. From the FBI internet crime report in 2023 Americans lost about 12.5 Billion dollars [0]. That is far from 1T$. Another source reports cost if cybercrime is reported to reach 9.5T$ in 2024 but again no source provided for that number [1] [0] https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2023_IC3Report.pdf#... [1] https://www.esentire.com/resources/libra…
It's a pretty ridiculous number, total US GDP is only $27T. That would mean scams are ~1% of the US economy, which is non-sensical.
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It's a pretty ridiculous number, total US GDP is only $27T. That would mean scams are ~1% of the US economy, which is non-sensical.
Wouldn’t $1T be close to 4% of US GDP?
https://www.afr.com/companies/games-and-wagering/escalante-r...
The company does not operate its games in Australia, where that kind of gambling is illegal (or rather, there are far more rules before people can enter the draw). Are Americans just easy marks?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Read up on how economic development works. Ask any of the Asian tiger economies that were formerly victims of colonialism how they economically developed out of poverty. Developing trusted institutions leads to outside investment. Outside investment leads to growth. Growth leads to not being poor. When nobody will invest in Nigeria because nobody actually trusts they won’t get bamboozled, this is a fundamental chicke…
This is your answer? "Read the books on economics"? As if it would be some kind of scientific guideline? Seriously? This is your answer while simultaneously looking at the world RIGHT NOW? A quick catch up for you: those books didn't work. Economics is not a science. You can not use it to generate predictions. It's single useful outcome is a historical one. > Ask any of the Asian tiger economies Why should I? It is o…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's good to hear that scammers are taking your grandparents retirement money as reparations for colonial acts?
Most people dramatically underestimate how widespread their cultural moral system is. Billions of people live in cultures where scamming is perfectly moral.
E.g. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-merchant-iphone-...
There's also a lack of outrage of how our trash gets exported. It's the phone producer or the trash-people's crooked morals, not ours.. ;-)