Scam Inc from The Economist

by The Economist

Category

Business

Frequency

Complete series

Language

English

A sophisticated, predatory, multi-billion dollar industry is emerging from the shadows. It already rivals the size of the illicit drug trade. And it’s about to get bigger and much more powerful. The Economist’s Sue-Lin Wong follows a trail that starts with the collapse of a bank in rural Kansas to uncover a global, underground scam economy built around human trafficking, corruption and money laundering. Can it be stopped? To listen to the full series subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. Hosted ...

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Recent Reviews

Scammed by The Economist

MsCrabass•4/17/2026

No paywall warning until it’s too late. I may have subscribed had they’d been transparent early in the first episode. Now I’m turned off and lost interest.

Excellent journalism

domingopaes•10/27/2025

And the long form podcast format is a great value addition to the excellent written reporting on this story contained within the Economist. This is incredible value for subscribers of the newspaper

What a Wealth of Information

Denihale•10/6/2025

The journalistic investigation Sue-Lin put into this is incredible. I bought the Economist because of this podcast and I don’t regret at all. She deserves an award for this. Ty Sue-Lin

Feel scammed

Happy Athiest•8/22/2025

Feel scammed that the on such an important issue, I have to subscribe and pay to listen to all episodes. Should be free.

Jumbled mess

Winterfuzz55•6/29/2025

Jumps all over story to story and then wants a subscription to continue the mess.