Researching the Digital Illicit Economy: Methods, Ethics, and Access (Scam Industries Focus)

This workshop convenes a methodological discussion on how to research digital economies, with a focus on scam industries and cyber-enabled financial crime. Bringing together perspectives from financial crime research, empirical work on Southeast Asia scam markets, and scholarship on digital authoritarianism, the session examines how researchers can generate credible evidence when access is restricted and data are fragmented.

Discussion will address strategies for gaining and negotiating access; working with open-source and platform-based data; triangulation and verification; and the ethical challenges of researching victimisation, coercion, and illicit markets. The workshop will also reflect on whether and how gender shapes research practice—particularly in relation to safety, credibility, and emotional labour. The session forms part of the Female Researchers in Hostile and Conflict Contexts workshop series, which is organised as a hybrid programme to support an inclusive, skills-focused research culture.  This workshop is co-hosted by The Centre for the Study of Illicit Economies, Violence and Development (CIVAD) at SOAS, University of London.

Speakers and Discussants

• Bing Han (University of Portsmouth) — Lecturer specialising in financial crime (speaker)
• Ling Li (University of Melbourne) — Scholar and co-author of a recent book, Scam: Inside Southeast Asia's Cybercrime Compounds (speaker)
• Chi Zhang (University of Warwick) — Assistant Professor researching digital authoritarianism (discussant).
• Xu Peng (University of Manchester & SOAS University of London) — Research fellow working on conflict and illicit economy in Southeast Asia (moderator)

Header image: Towfiqu barbhuiya via Unsplash