> "To put this into context, the scam center industry in Cambodia is estimated to generate over $12.5 billion annually – in other words, around half the country's GDP,"
Commercialisation of criminal activity is a massive growth industry.
I'm unsure how high-trust societies will be able to defend against invisible puppet-masters finding local defectors that will (a) rip off locals, (b) be the scapegoat.
My friend woke up the other day to someone grinding to steal copper. Defectors don't need expensive payoffs - just a few dollars (and are best paid illegally e.g. Meth anonymously via gangs?).
Perfect a scam in country A, then deploy it to country B (say New Zealand which relies on high-trust cooperator good citizens to function, and where the majority of people have no immunity against criminals - trust is a learnt behaviour here and many people can't detect the untrustworthy).
