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It often starts with a text message asking if you’re available on the weekend, looking for a part-time job or you get a simple “Hello” from an unknown number. Halfway around the world, a worker is typically working 12-16 hour days, texting non-stop, hoping someone will catch up.
The end goal is always to take your money – victims have lost tens of billions to scams and hundreds of thousands are in forced labor to keep the schemes going. These workers are often housed in huge complexes spread across Southeast Asia, where the industry is thriving.
Here’s why rooting out the scam industry is such a complex issue:
action in myanmar
Myanmar’s military last month moved into one of the most famous scam compounds – the huge KK Park along the border Thailand – and announced its closure, although civil society groups later said that parts of the complex were still functioning.
The workers fled along with about 1,500 laborers – hundreds of whom were also from India SugarFilipinos, Vietnamese, Ethiopians and Kenyans, among other nationalities – are entering Thailand. According to Thai military officials, troops demolished several structures within the vast complex.
Thailand is now working with India and other foreign governments to bring back its citizens. On Thursday, one of the largest groups of workers was flown home on Indian Air Force transport planes and more are due to return next week.
However, KK Park was just one of dozens of such centers along the Thai-Myanmar border and hundreds across Southeast Asia,
Emerging from casinos and illegal gambling
Scam complexes are often located in rural areas, being huge complexes with sleeping quarters for employees, shops and entertainment venues.
These are built on a model where developers can build a single property and then lease the space inside to different companies.
They often operate under the patronage of the local elite. Smaller operations also exist – on one floor of legitimate office buildings, or even in a rented house in an urban area.
The centers originated from casinos – both online and physical casinos that grew rapidly in Southeast Asia. united nations The Drugs and Crime Office counted more than 340 licensed and unlicensed casinos in 2021 alone.
Casinos and attached junket tourism attracted high-rollers ChinaWhere gambling is illegal and run by Chinese criminal groups.
During the pandemic, visiting such places became difficult amid strict travel restrictions. Due to the lack of customers, some online casinos shifted their working model to criminal operations: defrauding targets around the world through digital schemes.
Relying on both illegal trade and willing labor
It is estimated that at least 120,000 people across Myanmar could be held in conditions where they are forced to work on online scams, with another 100,000 in Cambodia, according to a 2023 report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The numbers are approximate, but scam centers rely on a mix of trafficked and willing laborers attracted by false promises of relatively high pay and easy office jobs.
Initially, workers came from China and Chinese-speaking countries, but now the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says workers come from 56 countries, from Indonesia to Liberia.
The reality is the exact opposite of their expectations – their passports are often confiscated to prevent them from leaving the premises. Workers have said that only very senior managers and trusted lieutenants can have freedom of movement. Employees who do not perform are beaten or face other physical punishment.
a global crisis
Scammers don’t discriminate – they target people from all over the world with the help of translation tools powered by artificial intelligence.
In the Philippines, authorities in March 2024 raided a compound where employees were targeting Chinese nationals in an investment scheme. Working from a script, the scammers pretended they were a high-ranking employee at state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and got their target to invest in crude oil futures, according to a copy of the script seen by The Associated Press.
Last month, about 50 South Koreans were repatriated from Cambodia after being arrested on charges of working for online scam organizations over the past several months.
Recently, US prosecutors unveiled an indictment against Chinese-Cambodian businessman Chen Zee on charges of defrauding people in a large criminal network. Prosecutors allege his organization scammed 250 Americans out of millions of dollars, losing $400,000 in cryptocurrency alone.
According to the US Treasury Department, in 2024, Americans lost at least $10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scams.
victims
Scams are carried out in a variety of ways, from investing in cryptocurrencies to online work scams where people are asked to top up to get their next task – sometimes paying real money in the early stages of the scam.
Many scammers create a sense of urgency when asking for investment, saying that if it is not done by a certain time the target will be missed.
Despite government efforts to crack down on and free workers trapped in scam centers and raids that have closed some premises, activists say the main culprits are still at large. New reports of scam centers are emerging in Southeast Asia and around the world
A UN report in April said scammers had defrauded victims of billions of dollars through false romantic advances, bogus investment schemes and illegal gambling schemes operating as far as Africa and Latin America.
“If we only rescue the victims, and don’t arrest anyone, especially the Chinese mafia and those international syndicates, there would be no point,” said Jai Kritia, coordinator of the Civil Society Network for Victim Assistance in Human Trafficking.
“They may find more victims… they can do the scam any time,” said Kritiya, who has rescued forced laborers from scammers.