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Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#11

Post by walrus01 »

commandersaki wrote: post #5

Aren't these spots popular for running pig butchering scams? I don't know why BBC article didn't explicitly say this.

Pig butchering among many other variations, like sextortion, fake FBI agent, advance fee fraud, fake real estate rental fraud, there's a whole myriad in their playbook.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#12

Post by rsynnott »

You know those quasi-libertarian dreams of independent privately-owned city-states? Yeah, doesn't seem like such a good idea now, does it?

(I'm kind of surprised none of those crypto-libertarian groups have tried Myanmar, actually; it is, at least at the moment, particularly vulnerable to this sort of thing.)

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#14

Post by rhymeswithjazz »

commandersaki wrote: post #5

Aren't these spots popular for running pig butchering scams? I don't know why BBC article didn't explicitly say this.

I can't remember if it was specifically about Shwe Kokko but Search Engine did an episode about a city with compounds like these.

https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/whos-behind-these-scammy-text-...

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#15

Post by rsynnott »

redeux wrote: post #2

I thought they were talking about Las Vegas until I read the article. I wonder if that was the intention when they titled the article.

It describes, to a greater or lesser extent, a lot of places, but this one is certainly a particularly extreme example.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#16

Post by lmm »

pjc50 wrote: post #9
redeux wrote: post #2

I thought they were talking about Las Vegas until I read the article. I wonder if that was the intention when they titled the article.

Las Vegas is not the only city with casinos.

No, but it's probably the most famous (at worst, second behind Monte Carlo).

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#17

Post by seivan »

willbw wrote: post #4
redeux wrote: post #2

I thought they were talking about Las Vegas until I read the article. I wonder if that was the intention when they titled the article.

I think you might be imposing an America-centric view on the BBC. I doubt that was the intention.

[dead]

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#18

Post by amiga386 »

On a related note, POGOs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_offshore_gaming_ope...

The Philippines (under Duterte) said to Chinese criminals: Feel free to base your operations here and rip off your fellow Chinese, but don't rip off us Filipinos.

Then these POGO centres started scamming locals and Chinese alike, and staffed themselves with scam victims, using blackmail and torture to force them to work there and commit fraud.

Then one victim escaped:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68562643

And then the whole world unraveled for local town mayor and Chinese spy, Alice Guo (that's not even her real name)

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/04/asia/philippines-alice-gu...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mnyrm8739o

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#19

Post by Muromec »

rsynnott wrote: post #12

You know those quasi-libertarian dreams of independent privately-owned city-states? Yeah, doesn't seem like such a good idea now, does it? (I'm kind of surprised none of those crypto-libertarian groups have tried Myanmar, actually; it is, at least at the moment, particularly vulnerable to this sort of thing.)

Does anybody dream of living in one or just dreams of owning the one? I fail to see the upside of living in somebody's pocket soviet union when places like Singapure actually exist.

Re: Shwe Kokko is accused of being a city built on scams

#20

Post by misja111 »

rsynnott wrote: post #12

You know those quasi-libertarian dreams of independent privately-owned city-states? Yeah, doesn't seem like such a good idea now, does it? (I'm kind of surprised none of those crypto-libertarian groups have tried Myanmar, actually; it is, at least at the moment, particularly vulnerable to this sort of thing.)

Libertarians would answer that in a True Libertarian World, gambling would be legal everywhere: so gamblers would have a rich choice between casino's and wouldn't have to resort to shady casino's with bad reputations, as they do now.
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