内容摘要：The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that cyber-scamming in Southeast Asia generates tens of billions annually, while the United States Institute of Peace equates the threat to that of the destructive fentanyl trade.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that cyber-scamming in Southeast Asia generates tens of billions annually, while the United States Institute of Peace equates the threat to that of the destructive fentanyl trade.

Kiv.Kz, a wholesaler in Kazakhstan that sells household appliances, said it also had many clients from Russia, some of whom make bulk purchases of goods that are not officially available in the country due to sanctions.“You can come and buy the whole truck,” a company representative told Al Jazeera in a phone conversation.

Customs data shows that products are being imported into Russia through unofficial channels on a large scale.All goods that enter Russia, whether through official distribution channels or as parallel imports, must be declared to customs, which records information including the name of the shipper, the consignee and the quantity of the shipment.While customs data does not formally distinguish between imports based on whether they were authorised by the manufacturer, importing companies that have no official relationship with the manufacturer are an indication of parallel imports.

In the weeks after the invasion, shipments of iPhones to Russia virtually ceased.Only about 200kg (440 pounds) of the devices - the equivalent of about 400 iPhones - were imported into Russia in the first three months after the invasion, according to Russian import data provided by Import Genius, compared with about 200 tonnes in January 2022 alone.

By summer, shipments began to slowly recover. But imports never returned to pre-invasion levels, peaking at about one-third of that amount at the end of 2022, before declining again over the following six months.

“Apple stopped selling products in Russia in March 2022 and there’s been no change since then”, Apple told Al Jazeera in a statement, declining to comment on unofficial distribution channels.Magdalena Martinez has spent her entire life along the banks of the Indio River, but a proposed dam intended to shield the Panama Canal from drought now threatens to engulf her home.

The 49-year-old is among hundreds of residents opposing an artificial lake that would feed the crucial interoceanic waterway.“I feel sick about this threat we’re facing,” said Martinez, who lives in a wooden house with a metal roof in Boca de Uracillo with her husband and five of her 13 children.

“We don’t know where we’re going to go.”Martinez’s family has always lived in the small village surrounded by lush mountains, where locals depend on farming crops such as cassava and maize and raising livestock for their livelihoods.