COVID-19 boosted not only digital health but also cyber crimes

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic boosted not only the digital medical service but also everything digitally reformed, including E-commerce and scams.  Social media influencers became online business owners and cultivated an image of trustworthiness by showcasing an extravagant lifestyle and inviting numerous Thai celebrities or other influencers to be their business partners or appear in their personal events. The victims claimed that the company was operating a pyramid scheme, where earnings came primarily from recruiting more members than from selling products or services. The far-reaching borders between Thailand and neighbored countries become the perfect places for criminal networks to escape the constraints of law enforcement to operate industrial-scale scam compounds. The investors, labors, operations and victims of the crimes seem to be transnational. The forced labors are trafficked from more than 60 countries around the world as well as the victims who lost money. Relationships between these criminal groups and the governments are being investigated as the stolen funds are almost 40% of some countries’ GDP and the complex money-laundering operations to move funds into the formal economy is beyond the scale of the criminal organization.