[HighlandSpring]

My best guess is a lack of willing participants combined with pressure from up top to move money to keep the operation going/meet targets.

We also don't know how much of that 500k is profit - maybe the margins in organised crime aren't what they used to be. Each $3,750 saved is money they can put straight into their pocket as their boss might never find out how many mules they ended up using.

Or maybe the reporting is fishy

[quartesixte]

3750 for committing serious crimes seems so low, one can only imagine the desperation or lack of value understanding involved with participants.

Or coercion.

[kayodelycaon]

I think it’s pretty simple. To many people, $3,750 is a huge amount of money. It’s easily several months salary.

I think a lot of people would be relatively unaware of how illegal a given thing is and would instead see the amount of money being offered as representative of the risk. Too much and they would get suspicious.

[brewtide]

The "kia boys" are out stealing car after car for $100 from interviews online.

Incentives seem lower than we all think?

[yodsanklai]

I remember some very sad news about a drug smuggler, a poor woman from the Philippines, condemned to an insanely harsh sentence in Singapore (perhaps even death penalty?). At least, the UK justice system should be less cruel.