今日吃瓜

Tag - romance-scams

 
今日吃瓜
Search
 
November 12, 2026
 

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

ROMANCE SCAMS

A workstation at a compound in Cambodia that the Thai military said was used for scam operations in March.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 31, 2026
Scam centers relocated from Cambodia operate in Madagascar
Raids against online scam centers in Madagascar have exposed ties with a criminal group that ran similar operations in Cambodia.
A Royal Thai Army soldier walks outside an abandoned scam center in O'Smach town on the Thai-Cambodian border, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 9, 2026
Thailand arrests 12 South Koreans in scam center bust
Authorities also arrested a Chinese national, and said the group entered Thailand from a neighboring country and was operating out of a luxury house.
Men hiding their marital status to get women into a sexual relationship is nothing new. But a growing number of victims are speaking out on the men who deceived them for feigning singlehood — or dokushin gisō.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 31, 2026
Deceived women seek criminal penalty for married men pretending to be single
As it stands, men feigning singlehood to enter into sexual relationships can only be sued in the civil courts.
Counterfeit U.S. 100 dollar banknotes on the floor inside a compound in Cambodia used for scam operations
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 7, 2026
Scammers’ abandoned Cambodia compound exposes brutality and banality of fraud
A visit to a bombed-out compound near the Thai-Cambodian border offered a look into ?the fraud that has fleeced billions of dollars from victims globally.
Ferries cross the Mekong River in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Oct. 8. U.S. prosecutors have charged Chen Zhi, the chairman of Phnom Penh-based Prince Group, with engaging in a wire-fraud conspiracy and operating a money-laundering scheme.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 15, 2025
U.S. seizes $15B in bitcoin and charges Cambodian mogul with cyberfraud
Prince Group Chairman Chen Zhi, who was born in China but emigrated to Cambodia, is not in custody and remains at large.
Alleged victims of Myanmar's scam centers in the process of repatriation on Feb. 12. Fraud factories in Myanmar blamed for scamming Chinese and American victims out of billions of dollars are still in business and bigger than ever.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 14, 2025
Myanmar scam cities booming despite crackdown — using Musk’s Starlink
China, Thailand and Myanmar had pressured militias into vowing to “eradicate” the compounds in February, releasing around 7,000 people from a brutal call center-like system.
Foreign residents who fail to renew their residential statuses before their expiry may find that they won’t be able to withdraw cash from their bank accounts.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 9, 2025
Banks freeze withdrawals for foreign nationals upon expiration of visas
The move is part of a government initiative to combat scams and fraud, the Financial Services Agency says.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, are stuck in limbo at a compound in Myawaddy, Myanmar, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Feb 28, 2025
Southeast Asia’s latest scam center crackdown
Here’s a look at why the crackdown is happening now and the broader implications for relations between China, Thailand and Myanmar.
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were trafficked into working in?Myanmar and were sent to Thailand, queue for food at a shelter as they wait for their embassies to pick them up, in Tak province,?Thailand, on?Feb. 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2025
‘Contemplated suicide’: Ethiopians recount horror of Southeast Asia scam centers
The complexes have flourished across the region, often staffed by foreigners who are made to swindle people in what analysts say is a multibillion-dollar industry.
Artificial intelligence is fast becoming 'a new tool in the toolkit of scammers' preying on individuals looking for love online.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 14, 2025
Got a digital crush this Valentine’s? Beware of scams, says Meta.
At a Feb. 12 briefing, Meta outlined a recently disrupted romance scam that originated in Cambodia and targeted people in Chinese and Japanese languages.
Investigators pursue a criminal case in the town of Oshima in Tokyo in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2025
Concern over crime grows in Japan as cases rise for third straight year
The most drastic increase was seen in the number of fraud cases, which numbered 57,324 — up 24.6% from the previous year and with a total of ?307.5 billion in damages recorded.
According to the National Police Agency, a total of 3,326 romance scam were reported in the first 11 months of this year, more than double that in the same period of last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 30, 2024
‘For our future together’: The rising threat of romance scams in Japan
The prevalence of such scams, which prey on the lonely, has led authorities to step up measures to crack down on scammers who are often not even in the country.
Man arrested over operation of rogue cellular base station in Tokyo
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested Yu Hai, a 31-year-old Chinese national living in Tokyo's Kita Ward, on suspicion of operating an unlicensed base station from a vehicle in Tokyo's Ginza district on Saturday.
Government betting on language app powered by anime and AI
Japan plans to develop an AI-powered language-learning app that lets overseas anime and manga fans practice Japanese through conversations with popular characters.
Man arrested over theft of watch that was returned days later to Tokyo mall
A 30-year-old man who is believed to have stolen a luxury wristwatch in Tokyo last month reportedly told police he was the one who had sent it back with a handwritten apology.
Japan not immune to public backlash against data centers, experts say
An apartment resident displays a model of a data center currently in development next door in Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, in May.
Jensen Huang’s woes evoke sympathy and disbelief in his birthplace Taiwan
Hsiao Kui-yu, 68, owner of Yuchan Candied Fruit, stands in front of photographs of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang displayed at the shop, which Huang frequently visits during trips to Taiwan, in Taipei on Tuesday.
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ makes monster debut at the box office
Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” marked the highest single-day box-office gross for a live-action film in Japan with ?910 million on its opening day.
A toast to Naohiko Noguchi, sake’s first living national treasure
As a teenager, Naohiko Noguchi did not intend to spend his life as a sake brewer, but he has since become a paragon of the industry.
Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks
Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten 今日吃瓜 survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense.
Mariko Mori predicted the future. She’ll do it again.
Artist Mariko Mori is currently working to bring the translucent human-sized “Peace Crystal” sculpture to a cave in Ethiopia. It is part of her foundation’s goal to place a permanent sculpture on each of the planet’s six habitable continents.
A legend reborn: ‘Ocarina of Time’ remake improves on the Zelda masterpiece
The new remake of 1998's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" manages to somehow improve on one of the greatest games ever.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Famima Park Azabudai is a concept store by FamilyMart that combines convenience store staples with branded apparel, merchandise and a landscaped outdoor space.
Convenience stores, toilets and the allure of everyday Japan
By Elizabeth Beattie

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER