Scam industries and skinny shots

Scam industries and skinny shots

Author: Amanda Stephens, Hanna Bilinski,Rti March 23, 2026 Duration: 0:00

This week, Hanna and Amanda discuss the dystopian cyber scam industry that seems to have made its home in remote parts of southeast Asia. We also discuss the highly effective T2 diabetes and weight loss management drug semaglutide, better known as Ozempic and Wegovy, and the implication of generic versions hitting the market.

Read along with us:

Police warn international pickpocket ring could be targeting Taipei MRT

‘Industrial-scale scams’ and a state allegedly ‘co-opted’: What the rise and fall of the Prince group means for Cambodia

Revealed: the huge growth of Myanmar scam centres that may hold 100,000 trafficked people

India's cheap weight-loss drugs could reshape global obesity fight


Every week, writers Hanna Bilinski and Amanda Stephens find themselves stuck in the same cycle: falling down a rabbit hole of alarming headlines and relentless updates. The Doomscroll News Report is their attempt to climb back out and make sense of it all. Instead of just recapping the major international stories that flooded their feeds, they pause to place each event within a broader context, asking what it really means for the global conversation. This isn't a straight news broadcast; it's a dialogue between two curious observers who bring on knowledgeable guests to deepen the discussion. By weaving together expert insight with their own perspectives as individuals striving to stay informed, they create a space for understanding that goes beyond the reactive nature of the daily news cycle. Tuning into this podcast feels like joining a necessary conversation that seeks clarity and connection amidst the noise, offering a thoughtful alternative to the endless scroll.
Author: Language: en_us Episodes: 51

The Doomscroll News Report
Podcast Episodes
The MMR vaccine in the US and a new Israel-Iran conflict [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This week, Hanna and Amanda discuss the state of vaccines in the United States, especially the MMR (Measels, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine and current Health and Human Services secretary Robert F Kennedy's flip-flopping on…
Investigating birth rate declines, with PeiChieh Hsu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This week, we're tackling just one subject-- but it's one that seems to plague our feeds every other week: Birth rates! In a world where birth rates globally are on the downturn, we wanted to know what effect that really…
Canadian election results and tariff take-backsies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This week, we go over the latest news out of Canada, particularly the results of their elections and how squabbles with their neighbor swayed those results, in addition to the 145% tariff that very neighbor has slapped o…
The ripple effects following the defunding of USGAM [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This week on the first-ever episode of the Doomscroll News Report, we’re tackling how the cuts to the United States Agency for Global Media (USGAM) stand to impact the state of journalism now and in the near future, and…