Scammers Can Be Victims Too

The document is an opinion piece highlighting the industrialized ecosystem behind online scams and the uncomfortable reality that some front-line scammers are coerced human-trafficking victims forced into social engineering, while emphasizing continued vigilance against fraud and the networks enabling it. It references a former trafficked scammer’s testimony, an encounter with a likely state-coerced North Korean job applicant, and external resources (Operation Shamrock interview and The Economist’s “Scam, Inc.”) to illustrate the operational model and the need for collective action against scamming operations.