https://www.scmp.com/rss/524611/feed Don Pathan is a Thailand-based security analyst and development consultant focusing on conflict in Myanmar and insurgency in Thailand's far south. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Aidan Jones,Don Pathan Aidan Jones,Don Pathan Taking a short cut through Pattaya’s “Scammer Alley”, a neon maze of bars, hotpot restaurants and 24-hour Korean barbecue joints, taxi driver May shakes her head. The money washing around this Thai resort is so thick with fraud that even her own bank account has been frozen. “They pay with QR codes linked to mule accounts,” she said, referring to bank accounts legally registered under Thai names but secretly controlled by the foreign cybercriminals who have turned this part of Southeast Asia... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3335392/southeast-asias-billion-dollar-scam-industry-refuses-die-everyone-gets-cut?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3335392/southeast-asias-billion-dollar-scam-industry-refuses-die-everyone-gets-cut?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:13 +0000 Don Pathan Don Pathan A million-dollar gold heist in Thailand’s far south by armed robbers who blocked roads with spikes and set explosives to seal their escape across the Malaysian border has rattled the Thai security establishment, as efforts to reignite peace talks in an area roiled by insurgency continue to fall flat. Around 20 men working in three teams carried out the October 5 theft from a gold shop in Sungai Kolok, bordering Malaysia’s Kelantan State. The theft of hundreds of gold ornaments and jewellery... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3331015/thailands-million-dollar-gold-heist-reveals-costly-price-peace-insurgency-hit-south?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3331015/thailands-million-dollar-gold-heist-reveals-costly-price-peace-insurgency-hit-south?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Oct 2025 04:55:14 +0000