Joint Thai-American raids take down a Chinese cybercrime gang
You are looking at the early Monday edition of Fishwrap -- 3 June 2024.
Very quick reminder: Today is a (delayed) holiday to mark Birthday 47 of Her Majesty Queen Suthida. And therefore...
Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin celebrates the start of a new month with former men.
Despite the sign and never-ending demands on the government, Thailand does not recognise same-sex marriage of Thais.
The Bangkok Pride Parade never is the biggest but it has plenty of variety.
Below: The prideful invade Siam Paragon, the rich people's mall.
U.S., Thailand raid cybercrime HQ
The FBI and Thailand's Central Investigation Bureau hooked up to try to track, find and 'neutralise' a cybergang after attacks and ransomware blackmail on "several major corporate systems and state welfare funds" in more than 90 countries.
The target was Chinese gangster Wang Yunhe, who hides with some of his gang members in Singapore. He has purchased and owns property in seven countries including Thailand -- a house in Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri and three condominium units in Sattahip district of the same province.
The raiders seized cash (Thai and foreign currencies) of 7.5 million baht; 13 luxury Audemars Piguet watches valued at over 30 million baht, 23 pieces of jewellery worth more than 50 million baht, a black BMW X7 M50d, land deeds, bank account documents of Spicy Code Company and flash drives with encryption keys and passwords.
PHOTO: One of the gang's luxury properties that were raided.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2803429/
USA POLITICS TAXES
This Week's Cover
Will the magazine try to claim a major tax deduction for its 'in-kind political contribution' to the Trump presidential campaign, which it is,
OR
Will New Yorker's lawyers claim pedantically that it's not, because "we purposely left off the Hitler moustache"?
MIDEAST HAMAS HOSTAGES
Families of hostages call for Israel and Hamas to accept Biden's cease-fire demand. https://t.ly/dYN1m
 Well... some families. Thailand's government has ordered a total gag order on hostages and families. Hamas terrorists still hold 8 Thais abducted on October 7, and the government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has explained they must shut up.
Biden's sketchy deal proposes the release of some 100 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of around 30 more who were slain by the terrorists.
In another of the current wars, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky (photo below) puts Srettha firmly between a rock and a very hard place.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Z asked Asian leaders to join a summit seeking to end Russia's invasion and the ongoing war. Switzerland has offered to host such a 'summit'.
Thailand's military dictator General Prayut put the country on a 'totally neutral stance, and Srettha has followed that military policy. So far.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2803794/
TECHNOLOGY
Journalists are "deeply troubled" by OpenAI's deals with Vox, The Atlantic. (Ars Technica)
Finally! At long last! All the oxygen thieves are getting replaced by a Perl script.
The biggest findings in the Google Search leak. (The Verge)
To nobody's great surprise, Google lied.
Microsoft's new Windows Recall AI spyware has been hacked to run on unsupported hardware. (The Verge)
Why?! Why would you do this? Couldn't you turn your efforts to something less harmful, like the global distribution of aerosolised plutonium hydroxide?
Xbox is was down. (Reddit)
Pixy, your Xbox and Xbox 360 are sitting in a box in the garage, and your Xbox Series X is sitting in its original box in the closet because you still haven't opened it. What do you care?
I can't log in to Minecraft.
This apparently includes offline single-player games that you have already installed on your console. And Minecraft.
Live Nation has confirmed earlier reports of a data breach. (Tech Crunch)
The company itself wasn't hacked, but:
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster, who would not provide their name but responded from the company's media email address, told TechCrunch that its stolen database was hosted on Snowflake, a Boston-based cloud storage and analytics company.
What the Haitch? Why aren't Live Nation and Ticketmaster using Cloud storage?
The same group offering Live Nation's data for sale also claims to have hacked Santander, a Spanish bank with thirty million customers. (BBC)
Given the confirmation from Live Nation this one is likely also true.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6ppv06e3n8o
Putting the Minisforum V3 Tablet to the test. (Hot Hardware)
In short: It works well and is significantly better value than Microsoft's Surface, but the build quality is not quite the same.
https://hothardware.com/reviews/minisforum-v3-tablet-review
Whiny idiots with stupid names want the world to change for their benefit. (The Guardian)
Bah. (Waves paw.)
We Ain't Fakin'
Great song, Terrific showman
On this day (actually this past Wednesday)
Jerry Lee Lewis arrived at London's Heathrow Airport to begin his first British tour, along with his new bride, 14 year old third cousin, Myra.
A comfortable chair, perhaps even a sofa or (why not?) an old rocking chair can be perfect for reading. A kitten as warm companion, or puppy; at Fishwrap we're all doggeh-people but we'll not judge you. And you'll need articles worthy of consideration.
Defund the police! Reduce prison sentences! Shrink the size of jails!
Naïve El Lay Writer Julio Rosas... Four Years Ago!... Naïve El Lay Writer Julio Rosas watched the riots in his home town and then flew to Minneapolis to get some peace; which of course didn't exist. Minnesota was murderously horrifying.
 Thinking about that crazy night, I laughed how I naively believed that first wave of riots were going to be the only ones for that summer. By the end of that summer, I went from thinking, "Oh, this will end soon," to "Will these ever stop?"
Panthers in 6
Florida return to Stanley Cup Final after defeating Rangers.
Their opponent will be Edmonton Oilers. Unless it is Dallas Stars.
https://www.nhl.com/news/new-york-rangers-florida-panthers-game-6-recap-june-1
