Missing Context

Across Southeast Asia, vast scam compounds generate billions of dollars each year through romance scams, investment fraud, and online deception. The people sending the messages are often portrayed as willing participants in a criminal enterprise.But many never intended to become scammers at all.Lured by advertisements promising jobs in customer service, IT, sales, or customer support, thousands of people have traveled abroad expecting legitimate work. Instead, they arrive at heavily guarded compounds where passports are confiscated, movement is restricted, and refusal to meet scam quotas can result in beatings, torture, or other forms of punishment.This episode looks beyond the scam messages and the staggering financial losses to examine the system behind them. Why do so many victims remain trapped? And what happens when the person carrying out the scam is also being threatened, exploited, and controlled?

In 2023, a 23-year-old woman in Busan posted an ad on a tutoring platform, posing as the parent of a middle school student looking for an English tutor. Within days, she had arranged a meeting with a teacher she had never met. Hours later, that teacher was dead.Much of the coverage focused on the crime itself and the unusual behavior of the perpetrator. But this episode looks at a different question: how was access gained so easily in the first place?This is the story of the Busan tutor murder - not through the details of the attack, but through the pathway that made it possible.

The 2010 murder-for-hire plot, by Jennifer Pan, has been dissected for years.The double life behind it has received much less attention.By her early twenties, Jennifer was waking up each morning and leaving home for a university she did not attend. She forged transcripts, acceptance letters, and report cards while carefully maintaining different versions of herself for different audiences.This episode examines the years before the crime: the expectations she grew up with, the deception that expanded over time, and the effort required to keep an entire life from unraveling.Because the most enduring question in Jennifer Pan’s story may not be how it ended — but how it continued for so long.

In 2007, Felicia Teo disappeared after meeting friends in Singapore. For years, her case remained unresolved in a country widely seen as one of the safest in the world.This episode of Missing Context examines how assumptions about safety, independence, and what was considered “normal” behavior for a 19 year old shaped the response to Felicia’s disappearance. It explores how those perceptions influenced the urgency of the investigation, the decisions made in the early days of the case, and the questions that remained unanswered for years.

In 2023, ten-year-old Sara Sharif was found dead in her family home in England after years of reported concerns about her wellbeing.This episode of Missing Context examines the systemic failures surrounding Sara’s case and the warning signs that were repeatedly missed. It explores how reports, interventions, and opportunities to recognize the full extent of the abuse never came together in time to save her.At the center of the story is a child who should have been protected long before it was too late.

In 2016, Narumi Kurosaki vanished from a university residence in eastern France. The case would grow into an international investigation that crossed countries, languages, and years of uncertainty.At the center of it was Narumi’s mother, Taeko Kurosaki, who spent years searching for answers about what happened to her daughter.This episode of Missing Context examines Narumi’s disappearance through Taeko’s perspective. It explores the emotional toll of living without answers, and the persistence required to continue searching long after global attention fades.

Some stories are missing more than answers. Every case has a version of the story people remember. And another version shaped by what was never said.Missing Context is  a true crime podcast exploring stories from Asia and the diaspora, focusing on the hidden tensions, uncovering details that were ignored, misunderstood or never fully explained.Trailer out now. First episodes arrive Wednesday (May 27th, 2026)Follow now and don't miss the launch.