The Fight of My Life Podcast

We discover that the person Micah reached out to for help was none other than our producer Jake. The wheels for rescue are put into motion but the scam boss discovers that Micah has been asking for help, and calls him in to face the consequences.

PLUS: Americans lost $12.5 billion in 2024 alone to online scams. How is the government responding? The answer might surprise you.

Show website: fightofmylifepodcast.com

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Here's that video of the police raid (the bit at DV is ~3:15 onwards):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqzdlLihfjU

Here are the news reports referenced:

• https://nikkei.shorthandstories.com/
• https://vodenglish.news/thai-police-visit-concludes-with-66-rescued-other-victims-moved
• https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/world/asia/cambodia-cyber-scam.html
• https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2637946/cyber-scam-industry-booms-in-plain-sight-in-cambodia

Micah is sold to another scam center, bigger and more brutal than the last. Tasers. Dark rooms. So-called “suicides,” and co-workers who simply disappear. He’s close to giving up, when he stumbles upon a person on the internet, who might be his last hope of escape.

PLUS: We ask transnational crime expert - and show producer - Jacob “Jake” Sims (an American) why governments in Southeast Asia aren’t doing much to stop forced scamming.

Show website: fightofmylifepodcast.com

Conditions in the compound worsen as the scammers are forced to extract more money from victims. An emotional encounter with a victim leaves Ava shaken and depressed. Micah’s escape plan backfires terribly: he’s been caught.

PLUS: we speak to an American who lost his life savings, and break down just how “pig butchering” scams work – and why they’re so effective.

Show website: fightofmylifepodcast.com

**Content warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence. Listener discretion is advised.**

Trapped with Ava in a heavily guarded compound, Micah learns that escaping won’t be as easy as he thought. He forms a daring plan, but when he sees other workers brutally punished and beaten, knows he’s taking a major risk. Even still, he acts.

PLUS: we fly to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, to follow Micah’s footsteps and see for ourselves that scam factories are operating out in the open, and unchecked.

Show website: fightofmylifepodcast.com

Season 2 of the multi-award-winning podcast The Fight of My Life returns with Escaping Scam City—a six-part true crime series about love, deception, and survival inside Southeast Asia’s hidden scam compounds.

Young couple Micah and Ava apply for what they think is a dream job in Cambodia. Ava arrives first and realises it’s in fact a scamming factory, targeting people overseas like you and me. She warns Micah not to come, but he decides to follow her in – and hopefully get them both out.

PLUS: we speak to leading experts on the highly sophisticated recruitment strategies employed to trick hundreds of thousands of people like Micah and Ava into this exploding criminal industry.

Show website: fightofmylifepodcast.com