A criminal operation in Southeast Asia, disguised as a typical corporate sales team, was exposed for defrauding victims out of hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, through romance and crypto investment scams. The operation, known as a "pig butchering compound," was revealed through leaked chats detailing the daily life of its enslaved workforce, according to Hacker News.
The scam compound employees were motivated by managers like "Amani," who sent daily motivational messages to his subordinates via WhatsApp, as revealed in the leaked chats. "Every day brings a new opportunitya chance to connect, to inspire, and to make a difference," Amani wrote in one such message, urging employees to treat each customer as if they were "bringing them something valuablebecause you are."
In other news, Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins experienced a period of uncertainty in 2017 before the arrival of Mamoon Hamid. According to Fortune, Hamid's appointment was met with disbelief and skepticism from some in the venture capital world. "I got calls from friends in the venture business, other GPs general partners, asking: Are you sure this is happening? Is this real?" Hamid recounted. One friend even asked if he had already signed anything. Hamid had previously helped build Social Capital, leading investments in companies like Box and Slack.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump announced plans in the past to close Washington's Kennedy Center for two years for renovations, following a wave of cancellations after he added his name to the building, Fortune reported. Trump stated the decision was "based on input from many Highly Respected Experts" and subject to approval by the Kennedy Center's board of trustees, which he chaired.
Concerns also arose regarding Japan's $7.3 trillion Japan government bond (JGB) market. Recent tremors raised fears of a potential debt crisis in the world's fourth-largest economy, according to Fortune. Japan's debt was already over 200% of its GDP, and proposed fiscal stimulus plans were expected to exacerbate the situation. Investors reportedly began to show hesitation, with JGB yields surging after a series of weak debt auctions. Last month, bond yields spiked significantly, prompting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to contact his Japanese counterpart as panic spread through global markets.
In other tech news, a developer created a Telegram bot called Drinky using Cloudflare Workers, Durable Objects, and grammY to track and remind himself to drink water, according to Hacker News. The developer chose the bot route to avoid developing another web app that would require logging in. The GitHub repository for Drinky is publicly available.
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