Who's behind these scammy text messages we've all been getting?

An international scam sends a reporter halfway across the world

A text message I got on Saturday.

Happy Monday Searchers,

We’ve got a fairly crazy investigation for you this week from reporter Zeke Faux.

“Hi David, I’m Vicky Ho. Don’t you remember me?”

An investigative reporter travels halfway around the world to find out who is sending him random wrong number texts and why. After you hear this story, you'll never look at these messages the same way again.

You can grab a copy of Zeke's book, Number Go Up, here.

A question for you, when you’re done listening to the story.

I’ve been kind of stuck on how to respond to these texts now, when I get them. I don’t want to mess with these people, but I’m not entirely sure what to do. Send them links to places like the Global Anti-Scam organization so they can find resources about getting out? If you have a better idea, or any idea at all, please comment.

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Further reading and viewing from this episode

You can find Mech Dara on the internet on Twitter. We mention at the end of the episode he’s been spending a lot of time on his garden, so we thought it was important to share some of Dara’s beautiful vegetable photos:

Mech Dara’s vegetable garden

Here are some links to Phong Bui’s videos about Thuy. Forewarning, there are images of graphic violence in them. I found them difficult to watch.

• Like an action movie told by a detained witness in Cambodia who successfully fled / Phong Bui

• Thuy was rescued from hell on earth in Cambodia and is now screaming at midnight / Phong Bui

• Like an action movie about escaping when being cheated and sold in the middle of a foreign country (Part 1) / Phong Bui

• Conclusion (Part 2) Unrevealed secrets inside Cambodia's detention hell / Wind Dust

Our story, of course, focuses on the scam compounds in Cambodia. If you want to learn more about the compounds in Myanmar, I’d check out this piece from reporter Isabelle Qian about life in one of these scam compounds there.

And finally, here’s the trailer for No More Bets, China’s big budget film about these scam compounds.

See you next week, when we’ll have an episode which marks the return of Ezra Klein to the hallowed halls of Search Engine.

Thanks for listening,

PJ