Scam Factories | The Conversation Documentaries

Every day that he was locked up in a scam compound in Southeast Asia, George thought about how to get out. "We looked for means of escaping, but it was hard," he said. Scam Factories is a podcast series taking you inside Southeast Asia's brutal fraud compounds. It accompanies a series of multimedia articles on The Conversation. In our third and final episode, Great Escapes, we find out the different ways survivors manage to escape, what it takes for them to get home, and what is being done to clamp down on the industry. This podcast series first aired in February 2025 on The Conversation Weekly. In June 2025 it won Best Investigative Podcast at the Publisher Podcast Awards. The series was written and produced by Gemma Ware with production assistance from Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design by Michelle Macklem. Leila Goldstein was our producer in Cambodia and Halima Athumani recorded for us in Uganda. Hui Lin helped us with Chinese translation. Editing help from Justin Bergman and Ashlynee McGhee. Getting out of Southeast Asia's scam factoriesFrom empty fields to locked cities: the rise of a billion-dollar criminal industry‘We could hear the screams until midnight’: life inside Southeast Asia’s brutal fraud compounds

A few weeks after Ben Yeo travelled to Cambodia for what he thought was a job in a casino, he found himself locked up in a padded room. “It’s a combination between a prison and a madhouse,” he remembers. He was being punished for refusing to conduct online scams. Scam Factories is a podcast and multimedia series taking you inside Southeast Asia's brutal fraud compounds. The Conversation collaborated for this series with three researchers: Ivan Franceschini, a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Melbourne, Ling Li, a PhD candidate at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, and Mark Bo, an independent researcher. In the second episode, Inside the Operation, we explore the history of how scam compounds emerged in Southeast Asia and who is behind them. We hear about the violent treatment people receive inside through the testimonies of two survivors, Ben, and another man we're calling George to protect his real identity. This podcast series first aired in February 2025 on The Conversation Weekly. In June 2025 it won Best Investigative Podcast series at the Publisher Podcast Awards. The series was written and produced by Gemma Ware with production assistance from Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design by Michelle Macklem. Leila Goldstein was our producer in Cambodia and Halima Athumani recorded for us in Uganda. Hui Lin helped us with Chinese translation. Editing help from Justin Bergman and Ashlynee McGhee. Rise of an industry: part 2 of Scam FactoriesLocked in: the inside story of Southeast Asia's fraud compounds

Scam factories is a special three-part series taking you inside Southeast Asia's brutal fraud compounds. Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to work in these scam factories. Many were trafficked there and forced into criminality by defrauding people around the world. The Conversation collaborated for this series with three researchers: Ivan Franceschini, a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Melbourne, Ling Li, a PhD candidate at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, and Mark Bo, an independent researcher. In episode 1, our researchers travel to a village in Cambodia called Chrey Thom to see what these compounds look like. And we hear from two survivors about how they were recruited into compounds in Laos and Myanmar. This podcast series was first aired in February 2025 on The Conversation Weekly podcast. In June 2025 it won Best Investigative Podcast series at the Publisher Podcast Awards. The series was written and produced by Gemma Ware with production assistance from Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design by Michelle Macklem. Leila Goldstein was our producer in Cambodia and Halima Athumani recorded for us in Uganda. Hui Lin helped us with Chinese translation. Editing help from Justin Bergman and Ashlynee McGhee. Locked in: the inside story of Southeast Asia's fraud compounds‘It seemed like a good job at first’: how people are trafficked, trapped and forced to scam in Southeast Asia – Scam Factories podcast, Ep 1

The relationship between class and political preference in Britain used to be clear cut – Labour for the working class, the Conservatives for the middle class. But not any more. In a new five-part series, Know your place: what happened to class in British politics, Laura Hood, senior politics editor at The Conversation, explores what fractured the relationship between class and voting in the UK, and why no politicians can take the working class vote for granted. The first episode launches on October 7. Know your place is a series supported by the National Centre for Social Research. It's produced and mixed by Anouk Millet for The Conversation. The Conversation Documentaries, formerly The Anthill podcast, is home to in-depth audio series from The Conversation, a not-for-profit independent news organisation. Find out more and donate here.

Uncharted Brain: decoding dementia is a new series from The Conversation exploring new research unlocking clues to the ongoing mystery of how dementia works in the brain. In this three-part series, hosted by journalists Paul Keaveny and Gemma Ware from The Conversation, we'll delve into some of the findings from the world's longest continuously running cohort study, hear about the trauma of families effected by dementia and explore one researcher's investigation into the role certain viruses could play in Alzheimer's disease. All episodes will be available via The Anthill on November 16. Uncharted Brain is produced by Tiffany Cassidy with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive producer is Gemma Ware.

How will we actually tackle the climate crisis? And who gets to decide? As Glasgow gets ready to hold the COP26 climate summit in November, The Anthill Podcast is launching Climate fight: the world's biggest negotiation, a new podcast series taking you inside the fight for our planet's future. We'll speak to some of the academic experts influencing climate policy, and to some of the people around the world who will see their lives change as a result of it. We'll also be in Glasgow for the COP26 summit, talking to experts to unpack how the negotiations went. The first episode will go live on October 6. The Climate Fight podcast series is produced by Tiffany Cassidy. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our series theme tune by Neeta Sarl. The series editor is Gemma Ware. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

We all want the global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic to be swift and painless. But history tells us that isn’t always possible. When the world has suffered a massive shock to its system before – be that a pandemic, a war, an economic crisis – the rebuilding can take decades. There will be missteps along the way. More people will suffer. But past recoveries can also offer us lessons about what’s possible. About the choices people make, whether the choices of politicians and their advisers, or people just trying to find their feet in a new reality. And these moments of crisis have also provided opportunities to make a better world. In a new six-part series called Recovery, The Anthill Podcast will explore key moments of recovery from history. Hosted by Annabel Bligh, in each episode we’ll take one major crisis or shock and speak to a panel of leading academics who have researched its legacy. This will not be a series about coronavirus. It’s a series about rebuilding. About what works and what doesn’t, and how our world has been shaped by big moments of crisis and the way our ancestors have reacted to them. We’ll be drawing some parallels to what’s going on around us now, but mostly we’ll be telling the stories of past recoveries. Listen on The Conversation from June 3 or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. The Anthill is produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh. Sound design by Eloise Stevens.

Conspiracy theories no longer feel like a fringe phenomenon, with people claiming that Elvis isn’t dead or the royal family are shape-shifting alien lizards, put down as crackpots. Now presidents push them and major events are regularly followed by a slew of sinister ideas involving dark forces at work behind the scenes. Coronavirus is just the latest. Some conspiracy theories may be harmless entertainment or a sign of healthy scepticism, but others are dangerous because they can fuel racism, violence, terrorism and chaos. With the prominence of conspiracy theories seemingly on the rise, we set out to better understand them. Over five episodes, we speak to dozens of academics who have spent their careers researching different elements of conspiracy theories. Most are part of Comparative Analysis of Conspiracy Theories, an international network of conspiracy theory researchers, which supported the making of this podcast. Psychologists tell us why some people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than others, and why there's a spectrum ranging from the conspiracy curious to hardcore believers. Anthropologists explain why conspiracy talk is commonplace in some parts of the world but not others. Conspiracy theories have evolved over the centuries, from ancient times to the present day. We discover how conspiracy theories were at the birth of the United States and how the idea of the Illuminati – a purported secret organisation pulling the puppet strings of major organisations and governments – evolved from the French Revolution and which now supposedly counts Jay-Z and Beyoncé among its members. We find out how conspiracy theories spread and the extent that the internet has changed the game. We also investigate how dangerous conspiracy theories can be and why – whether it’s climate change denial, anti-vaxxers or political extremists. All that and much more coming up on The Conversation’s Expert guide to conspiracy theories. Original music by Neeta Sarl and sound design by Eloise Stevens. The Anthill is produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.

In Medicine made for you, a new series from The Anthill podcast, we’ll be taking a deep dive into the future of healthcare – and find out how it could soon get a lot more personal. We’ll hear from leading academics about the personalisation of healthcare, how it’s changing the way we think about our bodies, and the choices we might make about our health in the future. The Anthill is a podcast produced by The Conversation, hosted by Annabel Bligh. The Medicine made for you series is produced by Gemma Ware and Holly Squire. The first episode will launch on 18 February. Listen via The Conversation, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts from. The music in this trailer is Is That You or Are You You? by Chris Zabriskie. A big thanks to City, University of London, for letting us use their studios.

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Welcome to The Anthill – a new podcast that unearths some of the best research from the world of academia.