> And then the story invariably will say that the actual number of people doing this thing is not really known, or is pretty low.

I think some people are also using the wrong types of visas and not wanting to make their identities public to avoid trouble. Especially the "tourist visa" people in the article. I knew people (pre-pandemic) who would participate in "visa runs" in Thailand. I tried a visa run once, but suspect that I did it repeatedly it would arise suspicion. There are also longer educational visas in Thailand, and some educational programs advertise how little time commitment is required (since actual learning didn't seem to be the point).