[Repost] A Brief History of the Development of the Scam Industry: Originating in Taiwan (Taichung), Expanding to Mainland China, and Proliferating in Southeast Asia

When it comes to the scam industry, everyone is both fearful and disgusted. Many people around us may have been deceived, and some have been scammed themselves. As the saying goes, know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. To defeat the scam industry, we must first understand it, right?

So, how did the scam industry develop? What are the scamming methods involved?

[Originated in Taiwan in the 1990s]

The scam industry first originated in Taiwan in the 1990s. At that time, the main method of scamming was using the "turtle card," also known as the impersonation card, which involved using someone else's ID card to handle transactions.

As we all know, in the past, phone cards didn't even require an ID card; one could buy a card for fifty or sixty yuan and use it immediately.

Therefore, some Taiwanese used these turtle cards to send prize-winning text messages to victims, inducing them to pay various "pre-award" fees, such as award handling fees, notary fees, etc., until the victims' wallets were drained.

[Scam base moved to Mainland China]

Taiwanese scammers moved their scam base to Fujian. Around 2001, due to the lack of scam awareness at the time, the number of victims soared, attracting the attention of Taiwanese authorities, who then intensified their crackdown.

Unable to continue in Taiwan, the scammers moved to Mainland China. At that time, some areas in Fujian could receive telecommunications signals from Taiwan, so the scammers settled down in Fujian and continued to scam Taiwanese people.

To reduce costs, Taiwanese scammers employed a large number of local people from Fujian to engage in scamming. At that time, China was still very poor, and these locals could earn more in one day as scammers than they could in a year of farming.

Thus, the "flexible-minded" locals began to break away from the control of the Taiwanese and started operating independently, targeting the larger mainland population.

[Scam industry spreads nationwide, diversifying scamming methods]

Local scammers sprouted, and scam teams spread across the country. Trained by Taiwanese, mainland scammers began targeting the more populous mainland.

At this time, the methods of scamming also changed. From 2002 to 2010, the main scams involved "brain hemorrhage" and "car accidents." First, scammers would collect victims' information at hotels and stations, then impersonate doctors, calling the victims to falsely claim that their relatives had suddenly suffered a brain hemorrhage or been in a car accident in another place and urgently needed surgery.

At that time, people's awareness of scams was low, and hearing the scammer mention their relatives' names and their own information, they were easily deceived.

[Mainland crackdown, moved to Southeast Asia]

With the mainland crackdown, scammers moved their scam base to Southeast Asia. As the number of victims increased, public security departments began to take notice and started to crack down on scammers severely.

Thus, after 2010, the scammers all moved to Southeast Asia, which they saw as an ideal place due to its lax legislation and even laxer law enforcement. With just a little bribery, local authorities would turn a blind eye.

Moreover, being abroad, it was difficult for domestic public security to catch them. Since 2010, a large number of people engaged in scamming have moved to Southeast Asia, and some have even obtained citizenship in local countries.

[Development of internet technology, entering the era of precision scamming]

From 2015 to the present, the scam industry has entered the era of precision scamming. The real professional scammers have most of their people and servers in Southeast Asia. After 2015, the development of internet technology further fueled the growth of the scam industry, allowing scammers to obtain more people's information online, more comprehensive and precise information.

This information includes not only names, genders, addresses, and occupations but even your online transaction records, chat records, and friend information. The previous "Tsinghua teacher scammed out of millions" case was a scam where the scammers used internet technology to learn about the teacher's real estate transaction information, thereby gaining the teacher's trust and scamming millions.

The scam industry is a vile industry that brings huge economic and mental losses to many victims. Especially with the development of internet technology, it has further fueled the growth of the scam industry. Therefore, as ordinary people, we must raise our awareness of scams and adhere to the principles of not listening, not believing, and not transferring money! We must actively protect our property safety!