ultra the 2-. that means if you're looking for those models, you likely won't find it in stores or the website. you could however find it at a different retailer because retalers can sell what they have in inventory but can't restock. as for what it means for apple, analysts say it's not a massive blow but that the optics here are not a good look. it's a black eye as one analyst told me. and because apple says that it's appealing, it's also unclear whether this ruling is really final or just in place for now pending the appeal. only time will tell. >> thank you so much. i'm pamela brown in "the situation room." thanks very much for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, fears of an expanding war. us navy intercepting missiles in

the red sea as israel says it is being attacked from seven directions. plus, former president trump telling his foes to quote, rot in hell, the fbi investigating death threats against colorado judges. and a cnn investigation. the california man scammed out of more than a million dollars. it all started with a simple text message and you'll never believe who is behind it. let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erica hill. "outfront" tonight, fears of a widening war and a greater u.s. involvement. the us navy intercepting krdron day tacks today. these are just the latest in a growing number of attacks in the area. they also come just one day after president biden directed strikes against a militia group. now iraq accusing the u.s. of quote hostile acts. all of this raising questions

and concern about how deeply the u.s. is being drawn into the conflict in the middle east. israel's chief says his country is facing a multiarena war with attacks coming from seven directions. he offered this blunt warning. >> translator: i say here in the most explicit way. anyone who acts against us is a potential target. there is no immunity for anyone. >> iran with its own threat vowing to take revenge after an alleged israeli air strike in syria killed a senior member of iran's revolutionary guard. as one of prime minister netanyahu's closest confidants meeting at the white house today with secretary of state blinken. dermer is in washington for high level meetings as the situation

in gaza deteriorates. the face to fate meeting comes just two days after biden and netanyahu had what biden referred to as a long talk about gaza. will wiripley is in tel aviv. israel saying it's used air and ground forces to hit targets inside gaza. what more can you tell us about the strikes and what is happening on the ground? >> what is concerning for people in gaza is that 2 million or so are displaced largely out of the north and they're in the central parts of gaza in the south. that is where israel is intensifying its military operation tonight. that's why you have seen over the last 48 hours some of the deadliest periods we've seen since this war began around 80 days ago. the death toll nearing 21,000 tonight. more than double that nearly 55,000 injured according to the hamas-controlled health min is there any. with no end in sight. the terrifying sound of ongoing

bombardment. israeli shells hitting targets. closer and closer to this u.n.-run school in central gaza. for thousands sheltering here, it's time to move. again. families forced to flee for their lives and this is not the first or even second time for many. once again, they carried the war torn pieces of their lives in pursuit of elusive safety. just days earlier, many vowed they would never move again. never. a vow they're now willing to break only because they know their childrens' lives are at stake. >> there's no safety in this school. we're looking for a safer place. i'm leaving because of the intensity of the air strikes and the suffering. >> everywhere else is crowded. no guarantee they'll find a spot, but what else can they do? even if they have nowhere else to go, they can't stay here. they don't want to die here.

the scene, a grim reminder of what their parents and grandparents endured in 1948 when militias forced them out of their hometowns. in cold winter, blankets and mattresses are precious commodities. cars and the fuel that run them are scarce. those who can afford it hire donkey carts. for the rest, it's a long trek on foot. very tough back there, he says. bombs are falling on people everywhere. people were injured there. we don't know where we're heading. everywhere is under threat. we're just moving with the rest of the people. the destination for many, relatives' homes. a roof over their heads even if they are in neighborhoods already devastated by israeli air strikes. street battles raging across gaza. turning areas north and south of the strip into ghost towns.

the scars of battle, raw. >> translator: we are in a multiarena war. we're being attacked from seven different sectors. gaza, lebanon, syria, judea, iraq, yemen and iman. iran's allies engaging in low level hostilities to israel's war in gaza. houthi attacking ships. ships they claim are israeli affiliated. turning the red sea into a dangerous route for world trade. iran's vow to avenge the killing of a commander in syria, sparking renewed concerns of the conflict. especially on the lebanese israeli border. artillery fire with the hezbollah keeping both countries on edge since october 8th. and the israeli prime minister netanyahu writing an opinion

piece for the "wall street journal" spelling out what it will take for peace. he said israel must destroy hamas, demilitarize gaza and deradicalize the whole of palestinian society. erica, getting there is a very long away way from where we are right now here in israel and across the gaza strip tonight. >> will, appreciate the reporting tonight. thank you. orin, the us navy intercepting more missile and drone attacks over the red sea by iranian-backed militia. what more do we know about this? >> will mentioned the red sea in his piece there and that is where the focus was earlier today. over a ten-hour period, us navy forces operating in the southern red sea intercepted a barrage they say was launched from houthi-controlled areas of southern yemen. houthis are an iranian proxy that operates out of yemen and has carried out attacks that have operated in the past on maritime shipping. attacks that have forced many major shipping companies to

avoid the red sea. u.s. central command says they intercepted 12 suicide drones, three antiship ballistic missiles and two land attack cruise missiles fired from the houthis. u.s. central command says there were no injuries or reports of damage to shipping as a result of the barrage. but the attacks speak to the f veracity with what they see their actions. and they say or a houthi spokesman says on social media they targeted a ship that hadn't responded to houthi naval forces. the us navy assets that responded, the la boone, a destroyer, as well as f-18 fighter jets in the area. those ships there as part of a multinational u.s. essentially coalition to try to deal with the threat from the houthis and the threat the u.s. sees

emanating originally from iran and yet it is still a major concern. u.s. has tried to separate the war in gaza from the rest of the region, but as you can see here and the number of different areas the israeli defense minister mentioned there, the u.s. has been unsuccessful in separating gaza from the conflicts in the rest of the region. >> absolutely. appreciate it. thank you. now, retired army lieutenant ben hodges and former security adviser to the israeli government who's also involved now in informal talks with egyptian officials over gaza. general hodges, picking up there. the reporting about the u.s. intercepting more attacks now o over the red sea. hitting targets in iraq and syria. before that, u.s. troops have been targeted. how real do you think these fears are tonight of the u.s. being dragged into a widening war in the region? >> well, first of all, congratulations to the us navy

for how well they are defending shipping in the region against these attacks. the united states is not going to be drug into a conflict. we have strategic interests here and interests in what orin just said that the administration is trying to separate hamas from the other attacks but clearly, iran is at the center of all of this. these are not different incidents. these are all connected to iran which by the way, is russia's closest ally. so i think the united states has to step back and take a broader more strategic approach to how we address these challenges. >> just real quickly, broader and more strategic. how much more strategic? >> first you have to see that they are connected. we've got to isolate iran from russia which will have benefits obviously in helping ukraine but also isolating iran from the rest of the world. economically, diplomatically, and militarily.

as proud as i am of what our navy has done, these are defensive activities. we need to be on the thinking in terms of deterrence which means flattening every place from which these missiles are coming. >> prime minister netanyahu's closest confidant meeting with biden officials today. the administration has been pushing for some deescalation here. how much sway does the u.s. have with netanyahu? >> substantially, naturally, we didn't need the last round in order to demonstrate the extent to which israel u.s. backing from the left important stage of blocking u.n. security council resolutions to israel.

important but not of the same measure as the resimupply of weapons and munitions that are flying in from the u.s. on a daily basis. but the israeli forces are using tomorrow came from washington yesterday. so the leverage is there. i think the prime minister sent his closest adviser to deal with two clusters of issues. one is to change the mode of operation of -- to deal with american demand that israel changes the mode of operation in gaza in order to reduce civilian casualties and start bringing the war to an end in a few months, but the other cluster is no less significant and that's the difference between them. on the question of the morning after where the biden administration reflecting the regional consensus says that no

country will contribute to the gaza after unless two conditions are met. one is sponsored by the palestinian authority and two, it is in the context of a political horizon. >> when we look at the state of affairs today, israel's defense minister noting as you just heard, the country is facing attacks from seven different directions. north, south, the east. general, when you look at the situation there on the ground, how long can israel continue this war in gaza at this same spe intensity as the threats continue to grow on all sides? >> clearly, the israeli government has settled in for a very long conflict. we've heard that language from the leaders of the netanyahu government. certainly support from the united states will be important but the israelis have a very large military and they have been surrounded by enemies or potential enemies since their

creation in 1948. so i think they're not going to run out of ammunition or that sort of thing. but i do think that their economy obviously is going to be suffering to have this many soldiers mobilized for this period of time and to conduct operations like this is also expensive. what concerns me the most is that the absence. and i think about this as if i were an israeli soldier. the mission given to me by the israeli prime minister is k kinetic. destroy hamas. the third condition the prime minister laid out in his opinion piece talked about the deradicalization of the palestinian society. but the instructions that i've received as the military are all kinetic. there's no political dimension that tells me hey, when this is all over, we've got to be able

to live with our arab neighbors. our palestinian neighbors. i think this is going to make it extremely difficult for them to accomplish their objective. >> comes back to that morning after what happened on the other side. i want to get your take on this egyptian peace proposal. both hamas and islamic jihad rejected it. it would have called for a military pause to release hostages in exchange for bodies in a swap of thousands of palestinian frprisoners for the remaining israeli hostages. in your mind, is there anything you see as a plan that could work for both israel and gaza? >> the gap was rejected also by israel and primarily for the third part of the deal on the table, which was a comprehensive hos hostages for prisoner swap accompanied by an end of hostility. and israel wouldn't commit to

that. i think the gap between two parties is far too wide for such an ambitious plan. it's quite puzzling that the egyptians were probably the most experienced mediators between israel and hamas. they have mediated all cease fires over the past more than decade. put on the table the plan that i think they knew that would be rejected. so one wonders whether it was just basically a marker in order to put themselves in the center. as you know, they're in competition with qatar that sees things quite differently and supports hamas. egypt does not. so and it was important for them to show washington and the hostile congress that egypt is relevant to u.s. national security interests. so i think that what drove putting forward the ambitious plan but i would not be

surprised if they are working another one under the radar. >> we'll be watching. gentlemen, appreciate your insight. thank you. next, donald trump's holiday message. not exactly dripping in christmas spirit. among his wishes for his foes to quote, rot in hell. plus, death threats against the colorado judges to ruled to remove trump from the 2024 ballot. now, the fbi is involved. and a cnn investigation into seemingly innocent text messages from have now scanned americans. >> i could never forget or forgive myself. losing that kind of money.

tonight, donald trump waiting on jack smith's next move, which could come at any moment. team trump urged a federal appeals court over the weekend to rule that the forms president has immunity from criminal prosecution and while they wait for that response, trump is keepin keeping busy. his latest post singling out the

council saying jack smith should go to hell. that's on the heels of him slamming him in a series of christmas day messages including this one. merry christmas to all including cro crooked joe biden's -- again, just for good measure, merry christmas. jessica jessica schneider is "outfront." is there any indication when we may see the response? >> the special council has to file by midnight on saturday. so really, his team could get their arguments into the appeals court this week. last week, the supreme court refused to take up their appeal immediately. they wanted this em to take it up before the intermediate appeals court. the reason jack smith wanted to speed this up was because all proceedings in the case are on pause while this appeals process plays out. so the appeals court here in d.c., they will in fact take the

next step. they'll hear the case pretty quickly. the arguments will be january 9th but that means the case will be delayed until at least mid january which makes the march 4th trial date a lot less likely. that's actually really good news for trump's legal team because they've been making delay a big part of their defense strategy and they already have a lot to contend with. so first up is the civil case against trump for defamation. that's from e. jean carroll. that is still slated to start in mid january unless his legal team can figure out a way to delay and the manhattan's hush money case is also set to start in march. the d.a. signalled he could be open to moving that start date. trump's team is going to be working on a lot in the final kays of 2023 but even more in 2024 when the campaign season

heating up and these legal cases really start swirling. >> i also wanted to ask you about this reporting that the fbi is now involved. now investigating these threats which were made against the colora colorado judged who ruled to disqualify trump. what more do we know? >> the threats have mostly been made online on message boards. there are groups monitoring these sites and they're saying the names of those four colorado supreme court justices who did rule to disqualify trump from the primary ballot there, their names have frequently appeared in posts but really there haven't been any specific threats. we are seeing one in particular, there was one user on a far right, pro trump website that posted really a profanity laden message calling for the justices in colorado to be hanged. so the fbi is working with local law enforcement in colorado to really closely monitor all of this. erica, there was a police

response to one of the justice's homes last thursday but apparently, that threat reported was just a hoax. so law enforcement regardless is taking this very seriously. especially because there's been a surge of threats in the past year against public officials. so they're taking it very seriously. particularly in colorado right now. >> absolutely. thank you. "outfront" now is katie, criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. when we go back to looking at where things stand with jack smith, how do you expect him to respond? he has until midnight on saturday but how do you expect him to respond to this latest filin filing? >> well, the response to the question of immunity is very significant because the overarching question of whether a president, president trump or really any sitting u.s. president is immune from prosecution is the ultimate question that overrides all of the criminal cases that exist including even potentially the georgia case which is a state

case. so i would anticipate that the big focus for jack smith and his team will be to narrow in on the fact that the actions that trump is accused of in the indictment fall outside the scope of his official duties as the president and therefore, he is not immune from prosecution for them. they're going to have to kind of walk a fine line with that though because there are so many instances where we look at what a president is doing in their conduct and they're essentially an entire branch of government in one person. so where you draw that line is going to be the ultimate question here. it will be very interesting to see exactly how jack smith's side proposes that be done versus what the trump lawyers have argued. >> so many people watching it very, very closely. i would just like to get your take on these continued social media attacks that we see on jack smith. how far is too far? >> well, in terms of president trump's opinion, i don't think you're going to be finding in i

criminal defendant who would feel very differently at a prosecutor going after them. now, in terms of what his speech is that is protected versus what is subject to gag orders, that has been obviously the subject of a lot of litigation here and i think when we're talking about person opinions about you know, go to hell, things that are not specific, directed threats that would fall under a criminal statute, you're going to run into any sort of enforcement with first amendment issues. certainly i think a big part of trump's platform is that the doj is corrupt. that jack smith is particularly corrupt. so i think that's going to be allowed to stand under the current status of the gag orders. there's always again, a fine line there though where there is actionable threats that can be subjected to gag orders despite first amendment rights. so i think in this respect, these particular statements probably fall within the allowable side of thing and certainly not surprising, we all know trump's stance on him at this point, but there's always

that opportunity that he could cross that line and there could be action taken. >> when we talk about threats and actions, looking at what's happening in colorado, the fbi investigating these threats against the judges there. their names had been put out on some extreme online forums. how concerned are you especially for someone who is in the legal profession as you watch all of this play out? does it feel this is becoming the new normal? how much of a concern is that? >> well, i think that the american citizens have a right to express their displeasure as it were at certain legal rulings. obviously, if people choose to violate criminal laws and go past the point of simply expressing opinions, they can and should be held accountable under criminal laws. whether trump is directly connected to that, which is the open question in the room, that's probably going to be a stretch unless there's a direct connection that could be made by a prosecutor but i think it's

unfortunate but not surprising that's what's going on here. >> thank you. >> thank you. "outfront" next, you're going to hear from the mayor of one border town overwhelmed by migrants. his message tonight to lawmakers as his city struggles. and alexei navalny says he is exhausted but alive after disappearing nearly three weeks ago. why his new prison location has his s team even n more concecer totonight.

just how hours from now, secretary of state blinken will be arriving in mexico. rosa flores is "outfront." as a migrant caravan forms in southern mexico, the scene on the u.s. southern border in eagle pass, texas, has changed. the areas where thousands of migrants were waiting outdoors to be transported for immigration processing last week were emptied out this week. the flow this morning appearing to be down to a trickle. a senior customs and border protection official telling cnn that while the scene there has

improved, the agency is not out of the woods yet. cvp still grappling with encounters on the u.s. southern border. 3800 in tijuana, 3200, 4,000. many hoping to enter legally, but some opting to cross illegally. u.s. federal authorities reported a seven-day average of more than 9600 encounters in decemb december. u.s. secretary of state blinken is scheduled to meet with the mexican president wednesday in mexico city. the biden administration is expected to put pressure on mexico to do more to stem the flow of migrants. to deal with the flow, cvp has temporarily suspended operations at several ports of entry in several states. this as cnn learns from an official that the surge is in

part driven by pseudo legitimate travel agencies who connect travelers to smugglers south of the border. i work for cnn. and i'm wondering where you're from. what country you're from. >> senegal. >> senegal. senegal. senegal. everybody from senegal? smugglers are dropping off 500 to 1000 migrants in remote yaz of arizona creating a logistical migh nightmare. for the volunteers who distribute water, it's the children who get them every time. >> it's heart breaking when you see the little children. now back to those 11,000 migrants in northern mexican cities. one director telling me some of those migrants know they don't qualify for asylum in the u.s. but it's the law in the united states so many of them are still trying to enter the united

states and plan to seek asylum. many of them blinded by the videos and voice messages they've received from other migrants who have crossed the border, turned themselves in to immigration authorities and have been released to american communities. >> appreciate the important reporting. thank you. "outfront" now, the mayor of eagle pass, texas. mr. mayor, good to have you with us. as we just heard from rosa, an official who told her that in eagle pass specifically, the scene has improved. they're not out of the woods yet. with secretary of state blinken set to meet with the president of mexico tomorrow, about what you are seeing firsthand and the impact this lack of help from washington is having on your city. >> i want tell our leaders, this is unacceptable. we've been getting slammed with 2 to 3,000 people a day and it's just an unfair, unethical situation what's going on here

in eagle pass. we feel ignored by the federal government. i've called to the government we need action. there needs to be a consequence to so many people crossing illegally. if somebody breaks a law, there needs to be a consequence and right now, there are no consequences. that's why you have thousands of people coming in through my city and it's impacting our citizens every day in many ways. >> you said you feel ignored. that you've reached out, called on the federal government. has there been any response? >> no response whatsoever. secretary mayorcas about two weeks ago, had the audacity to visit uvalde. he didn't come to visit eagle pass, texas. i've made a call to our president, our vice president. we need action. there needs to be a message to these people that if you want to come to the u.s., you have to do it in a legal manner. and if you don't, there will be

consequences. until we start deporting these people, they're going to keep coming and they're going to keep affecting the economy, the safety of my community, and it's just very, very frustrating that the united states of america doesn't care about the safety, the security of the border. >> over the weekend, i was struck by some comments from the sheriff of maverick county who spoke about some of the challenges that he's facing because of the border crisis. i want to play some of that for you. >> on the side, we're suffering because we don't have the manpower to take care of what we call the local business. the criminal elements and then the immigration problem. so it's costing us a lot of manpower. >> are you seeing the same thing? would you agree specifically from law enforcement's perspective? >> 100%. here in eagle pass, we have about 45 uniformed officers on every day we have to help and assist border patrol agents with

the undocuments immigrant situation. and that takes those resources away from our community and that's why you see an increase in crime. in people walking around our neighborhoods. it's definitely had an impact in your local resources. we just don't have to manpower that ems, the police officers, to keep this city safe with so many people coming in through our borders in an illegal manner. so the sheriff is absolutely correct. >> when we look at what's happening with the migrants once they get here, cnn reporting hundreds of migrants are being transported out of your city each day to try to ease that pressure. bac b one of the non-profits says it's really at a breaking point. how to you see an end to this crisis? as we know, it isn't always that easy. is it deporting people? is it a more forceful message because there is that message out there of don't come to the united states illegally? what is one thing you see that

could lead to an end to this crisis. >> it starts with hearing the message from the president of the united states. the vice president of the united states. they've been very quiet on the situation. it's very disappointing that they haven't made that message themselves that you can't come into this country illegally. one. and second, yes, of course, there has to be a consequence to somebody breaking the law. people know that they're processing them quick. that's why they keep coming so until we start deporting people in large amounts, this will continue to keep going. >> mayor, appreciate your perspective tonight. thank you. >> thank you. "outfront" next, alexei navalny finally found in siberia as one of russia's harshest prisons 20 days after going missing. his top aide tells us how he's doing and why tonight, she's even more concerned. plus, a cnn investigation

uncovers a major texting scam. >> please help me. i don't know what else i can do. i don't have anymore money. >> who's behind the con that has now scammed americans out of billions.

tonight, alexei navalny finally found alive. the russian opposition leader posting today that he's been transferred to a harsh prison inside siberia, calling his 3700 mile trek to get there an exhausting and strange route. you can see that journey. around about there on the screen. "outfront" now, maria, vahis cle aide who runs his anticorruption foundation. navalny in this post today talking about this nearly 4,000 mile journey, sounding pretty upbeat, but it has clearly been a grueling nearly three weeks for him. when we spoke with you last, you had talked about him recently surviving a poisoning, about the major health troubles he's been dealing with. can you give us an update tonight as to his condition? as to how he's doing? >> well, we have located him just yesterday after 20 days of not knowing where he is and what's happening with him. we found him in a village.

this is really far away. this is about optics kind of northern siberia. part of russia where it's very difficult to get to and the lawyer managed to see navalny only briefly. so we don't really know many details yet but hopefully soon. he may be write about his journey. we know that he seems fine-ish, given the circumstances and given the complete isolation that he's in. and that's all we know really to this day. so the good news is that he's alive. and the bad news is that we know they will keep doing this to

him. >> this is known as one of the harshest prisons in russia which is really saying something. the u.s. state department welcomes the news but it sounds as though you are genuinely concerned he could go missing at any time. >> absolutely. it's been 20 days and this were very difficult 20 days. and i have to say thank you to everybody who helped us talk about it. who helped us spread information including cnn. including all the people on social media who tweeted, who wrote instagram posted. who kept us going with the question, where is navalny. that's public pressure. this time allowed us to locate him quicker than expected. and sadly without the public attention, without the supreme court support of so many people,

it w it wouldn't be. >> you mentioned his lawyer only had brief access to him. this particular penal colony that is so harsh, does that impact his team's access to him? >> of course. impacts it massively. imagine, it's a little village where as i said, above the arctic circle, where nights and days are you know two hours of daylight a day like it is now. it is virtually impossible to get there. you have to fly to the closest airport then drive to get to this village over a frozen river. when this river isn't frozen in summer, you have to take a ferry or some other form of transportation to be able to get there. this is a very, very isolated place and on top of it, this

specific penal colony in kharp doesn't allow nincoming correspondence. or perhaps with a massive delay. so the degree of his isolation has increased dramatically compared to his previous prison near moscow. >> really praeshuappreciate you insight tonight. thank you. >> thank you. "outfront" next, a cnn investigation into the sneaky scams masquerading as legitimate investments. it's now bilked americans out of billions. >> the bad guys are getting better. >> plus, if you got the latest version of the apple watch for christmas, consider yourself lucky. why the newest version of the best-selling watch is being pulled from store shelves here in the u.s.

loving this pay bump in our allowance. wonder where mom and dad got the extra money? maybe they won the lottery? maybe they inherited a fortune? maybe buried treasure? maybe it fell off a truck? maybe they heard that xfinity customers can save hundreds when they buy one unlimted line and get one free. now i can buy that electric scooter! i'm starting a private-equity fund that specializes in midcap. you do you. visit xfinitymobile.com today.

please help me jessica! >> it's been a living hell. he is piecing together his life after losing more than $1 million in a crypto scam. >> i could never forget or forgive myself, losing that kind of money. >> is one of tens of thousands of victims of a fast-growing new form of financial fraud called pig butchering. he asked to remain anonymous to protect his family. started in october 2021, with a text message from a stranger. >> what was the name of the person you were communicating with? >> her name was jessica. >> she shared photos and he talked about the pain of caring

for his dying father. after nearly a month, the conversation turned to money. >> she started to introduce me to cryptocurrency, trading, gold. >> jessica showed him how to invest by installing a rating app on his phone that he said looked legit. little did he know he was a victim, pumping money into a sophisticated con, for the scammers, a pig fat and up for the slaughter. >> the account is gone. what did i do? that's 30 years of my wife and my life, building up this wealth. >> wealth that have suddenly disappeared. panic thing that's my panicking he begged jessica for help. >> please, help me! i lost everything!

>> but jessica disappeared and probably never even existed. >> this is the professionalization of fraud services. >> the fbi said it has seen losses due to . nurturing scams. >> an organization representing victims crap -- track their victims to this border region. >> u.s. capitol can say they've been able to trace their money to places like this. this compound, across the river, is just inside the territory of myanmar. and that is where we are learning about the conditions inside, that some people who work there, they say that they were forced against their will to try and scam americans out of their hard-earned money in conditions that they describe as amounting to modern-day slavery. >> this compound is where a

indian man said he was forced to work for more than 11 months without pay for a chinese criminal gang. >> the guards spotted us. >> until they recently released him back to thailand he, too, was the victim of a scam, he doesn't want to be identified. he said he first flew to thailand for what he thought was an it job, instead, he said he was tricked into crossing the border into myanmar, where a chinese gangster told him to work or else. and the job, spend 16 hours a day on social media, targeting americans with a fake profile. >> i got a russian girl profile. >> posing as an investigator, he flirted online with potential targets., rakesh shows secretly filmed images of what at first glance seems

to be an ordinary office but he said the bosses routinely punished workers, forcing them to do hundreds of squats and beating them if they didn't produce. >> and you have helped rescue people who are trapped inside behind the barbed wire for that very compound. >> michelle moore is one of a dozens of aid workers who helped visit -- she drives me along the border. green roof. >> showing compounds only a stones throw away where she says trafficked victims are forced to work as online scammers. >> this is why this is modern slavery and its right under everybody's nose. >> there's rapid construction on these compounds over just three years. thailand's minister of justice labels these facilities as hubs for criminal scamming activity.

>> these scammers have to use telephone signals to communicate. that's why they base themselves near the border so they can use thailand's telephone network. >> said thailand has no jurisdiction to crackdown on suspected criminals operating across the border in emr. cnn asked the military government in myanmar, why it hasn't taken action against alleged criminal gangs operating, and did not receive an answer. so for now, it looks like no one is going to stop this poisonous cycle of exploitation. >> finally, apple forced to take the latest version of its wash watch off cells. the tech giant infringed on another company's patent. apple asked the white house to step in. they have filed to appeal. retailers can sell the remaining inventory, they jujus

can't rerestock. ac 360 startrts next.