The criminal underworld was left reeling today after legendary human trafficker Noppadon “Slick” Suksawat, 59, lost a lucrative smuggling contract to Wichai “Papercup” Rattanapong, 26, a part-time gig-criminal who undercut his price by 800 baht per person. Papercup offered to transport nine undocumented Burmese nationals from Ayutthaya to Pathum Thani for a shockingly low 400 baht each.
“This is outrageous! How can I keep up with these young punks?” fumed Slick. “Just two years ago, this job would have been worth more than ten-thousand, easy. But this kid is willing to do it for just 3,600? Unbelievable. I have a family to feed.”
The gig economy, once limited to food delivery and taxi services, has now disrupted the organized crime sector. Veteran criminals complain that young upstarts, armed with smartphones and zero respect for tradition, are destabilizing the industry by treating crime like a side hustle rather than a calling.
Dr. Prasit Thongchai, a Criminal and Economic Historian at Thammasat University, commented, “This chaos was inevitable. With the launch of the app GigCrime, anyone can post jobs like intimidating a bureaucrat to approve an illegal permit, replacing a sick getaway driver, or filling in for a disappeared inside man–and, usually in minutes, someone will reply with a competitive bid that would have been unheard of before this technology was possible. The market’s so competitive, I saw a listing for ‘mild extortion’ with a 10% discount coupon just yesterday.”
University student Siriporn Manasakul, 23, turned to GigCrime for extra cash. “I just wanted some pocket money for nights out with my girlfriends,” she explained. “I downloaded GigCrime, and by the end of the weekend I had already served as a lookout for a smash-and-grab, pretended to be a sex worker in distress to scam tourists, and did some voice work for call scams.” Siriporn earned 6,300 baht by the end of the weekend and left positive feedback, except for the call scams, which she found “ethically meh.”
Slick, meanwhile, reflects on the old days. “It used to be all about face-to-face respect. If you didn’t know someone personally, you didn’t work with them. Now? It’s all swipes and taps. No loyalty, no personal touch! I mean, what kind of system is this? People are just going to choose each other based on anonymous feedback? There’s no basis for trust!”
Having spent decades building a reputation, Slick fondly recalled how everything used to be prearranged, from the bribes to the drop-off points. “Prices were fixed, and if anyone broke the code, they got a personal invitation to the crocodile farm.” He added, staring wistfully into the past.
With the destabilisation, working conditions have both improved and gotten worse for those seeking to be part-time lawbreakers. Whereas career criminals could once stick with the same outfit for decades, and even return after doing a bit of time in prison, the more malleable networks have no such loyalty.
Papercup splits his time between scrolling for crime jobs and hanging out at his uncle’s bookstore, helping customers find DIY books and the hottest new lakorn novelization. “Nobody has time for a job not to go off if someone doesn’t answer a text, or is in lockup. The app just makes it too easy to find someone to fill-in. I’ve worked with six drivers just in the past two weeks. The job security isn’t there, not like I heard it used to be, but there’s more power on the provider side now. I felt totally comfortable telling the guy organising the Burmese workers I couldn’t drive all the way up to Sing Buri to meet him–I mean, I had to stay at the bookshop until 8. I said he would have to meet me in Ayutthaya if he wanted me to do it for 400. In the past, I would have had a boss willing to beat me over the head to do the job his way, but it’s so easy to block a conversation if you think you’re being mistreated.”
Now, aging gangsters are retiring in droves, grumbling as tech-savvy millennials and Gen Z criminals find creative ways to cut costs while inventing new scams even seasoned criminals can’t understand. As the underworld continues to evolve, some wonder if the next generation will ever appreciate the craftsmanship of a well-executed con. For now, it seems crime is just another gig in the app-driven hustle, and even the crocodiles might need to diversify their services to stay relevant.
At press time, Slick had completely broken down and was trying to figure out how to make a profile on the app.
