Semake J

Six Nigerians Ran an AI Deepfake Romance Scam from a Nonthaburi Riverside Condo. A Cocaine Bust Led Thai Police to Them. Thai police raided a luxury condominium on the Chao Phraya River in Nonthaburi on May 22 and arrested six Nigerian men running a romance scam ring built on AI-generated faces and fake video calls. The trail started with cocaine. In April, police arrested a Nigerian man named Patrick and three associates on trafficking charges and seized 2.5 million baht in assets. The money trail led to foreign nationals on student visas living five or six to a unit in a high-end riverside condo near Phra Nangklao Bridge, none enrolled in school, none working. Police executed three warrants on three units, forcing entry after the suspects refused to open. One man tried to climb over a balcony. Another lay hiding on a bathroom floor, texting the other units to warn them. Officers seized 18 phones, three laptops, and three bank passbooks, the phones still open to active romance scam chats. The group posed as pilots, US military officers, doctors, and engineers, built relationships with older Thai women, then claimed a valuable package was stuck in customs requiring a transfer fee. Investigators recovered AI-generated Western faces used to produce fake video calls, and "sexy chat" scripts written to push older women toward transferring money. Police said a single well-crafted line could convince a victim to empty her account. All six face initial charges of illegal association (อั้งยี่) and immigration overstay. Fraud and romance scam charges are pending.

🚨 Breaking TICKETS SOLD OUT: The planned capacity of 60 000 tickets for Kaizer Chiefs vs Mamelodi Sundowns was reached by 10h00 this morning. The Event Safety and Security Planning Committee of Stadium Management SA has now authorised an increase in capacity to 85 000. Kickoff is at 19h30! 🔥

Good points — but the recovery math is brutal even after a deal. Three bottlenecks stack on top of each other: 1/ Production capacity: 80 damaged facilities. 1/3 severe. Saudi output already down 23%. Full recovery: 6–12 months minimum. 2/ Tanker return: Empty VLCCs need 3+ months to return through Hormuz. Mine clearing alone: up to 6 months. No ships = no exports even if wells are running. 3/ Inventory rebuild: World will have lost ~1.8B barrels by end of June. Rebuilding at 1M b/d surplus = 5 years to recover. A ceasefire tomorrow doesn’t fix September. The damage is already structural.

Biggest Bull Trap Ever

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