Hundreds of thousands trafficked to work as online scammers in SE Asia, says UN

[NotATether]

According to this new and damning report, the average scammer that you see on the likes of Telegram and other social media aren't professional con-men but are merely forced to work for them in order to gain a living (think like child trafficking and sex trafficking).

Lots of these people are being forced to work for a handful of overlords who ultimately reap all of the benefits of the stolen money while the trafficked scam worker gets just a tiny cut of it, less than minimum wage and keeping most of them in poverty.

Only after the economies of all those countries improve like China will people's average wages go up and make this kind of work gradually become infesable and peter out into the darkness.

Think about that next time you are greeted by a scammer - don't give them any money of course, but it makes you feel sorry for their situation (not the fake made-up story that they tell you).
 

GENEVA (29 August 2023) – Hundreds of thousands of people are being forcibly engaged by organised criminal gangs into online criminality in Southeast Asia - from romance-investment scams and crypto fraud to illegal gambling - a report issued today by the UN Human Rights Office shows.

Victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security; and many have been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses, the report says.

“People who are coerced into working in these scamming operations endure inhumane treatment while being forced to carry out crimes. They are victims. They are not criminals,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

“In continuing to call for justice for those who have been defrauded through online criminality, we must not forget that this complex phenomenon has two sets of victims.”

The enormity of online scam trafficking in Southeast Asia is difficult to estimate, the reports says, because of the clandestine nature and gaps in the official response. Credible sources indicate that at least 120,000 people across Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams, with estimates in Cambodia similarly at around 100,000. Other States in the region, including Lao PDR, the Philippines and Thailand, have also been identified as main countries of destination or transit where at least tens of thousands of people have been involved.

The scam centres generate revenue amounting to billions of US dollars each year.

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated response measures had a drastic impact on illicit activities across the region. Public health measures closed casinos in many countries and in response, casino operators moved operations to less regulated spaces including conflict-affected border areas and Special Economic Zones, as well as to the increasingly lucrative online space, the report says.

Faced with new operational realities, criminal actors increasingly targeted migrants in vulnerable situations – who were stranded in these countries and out of work due to border and business closures – for recruitment into criminal operations, under the pretence of offering them real jobs. As COVID-related shutdowns saw millions of people restricted to their homes, spending more time online, there were more ready targets for online fraud schemes and more people susceptible to fraudulent recruitment.

Most people trafficked into the online scam operations are men, although women and adolescents are also among the victims, the report says. Most are not citizens of the countries in which the trafficking occurs. Many of the victims are well-educated, sometimes coming from professional jobs or with graduate or even post-graduate degrees, computer-literate and multi-lingual. Victims come from across the ASEAN region (from Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), as well as mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Asia, and even further afield from Africa and Latin America.

While some countries in Southeast Asia have put in place legal and policy frameworks relevant to counter trafficking, in some cases they fall short of international standards. In many cases their implementation has failed to respond adequately to the context and sophistication of these online scams, the report says.

Victims of trafficking and other human rights abuse are erroneously identified as criminals or as immigration offenders and, rather than being protected and given access to the rehabilitation and remedy they need, they are subjected to criminal prosecution or immigration penalties, it says.

“All affected States need to summon the political will to strengthen human rights and improve governance and the rule of law, including through serious and sustained efforts to tackle corruption. This must be as much a part of the response to these scams as a robust criminal justice response,” said Türk.

“Only such a holistic approach can break the cycle of impunity and ensure protection and justice for the people who have been so horrifically abused.”

[rat03gopoh]

I followed the news about this a few days ago, and apparently most of the victims of this type of "illegal work" trap are immigrant workers from my country. And the funny thing is, the targets of their deception are people from their own country.
And I can conclude that they're really stupid, they (scammers) can provide their own bank accounts to potential victims to receive money from their crime activities.

[Zaguru12]

According to this new and damning report, the average scammer that you see on the likes of Telegram and other social media aren't professional con-men but are merely forced to work for them in order to gain a living (think like child trafficking and sex trafficking).

Lots of these people are being forced to work for a handful of overlords who ultimately reap all of the benefits of the stolen money while the trafficked scam worker gets just a tiny cut of it, less than minimum wage and keeping most of them in poverty.

It’s been this way since, some of these scammers hubs are even set up by established people where they bring in people for the low background train them to carry out their crimes for them. Most of them are paid peanuts, some do it because their family security also depends on it and it is what’s use to threaten them.

In as much as I agree with you that policies are to be set aside to different the real cohorts and the victim-scammers as I will put it, I think it will be hard because most of the them when caught will actually use this umbrella even the real culprits.

Do you even know that most of them are the once that actually present themselves to this established scam bodies just because they want to live a life with luxury. Yeah the economy of most of their countries are not good enough but come off it some are just to greedy and want a go at life the easier way. That’s why they end up been used for stuffs like this.

[yazher]

As far as I remember something like this existed in our country not long ago where students who were given free scholarships in their schools were given a kind of work that they needed to introduce and promote products to foreigners online and they were told to at least make sales or else they lose their scholarships. They are forced to work but in the end, they are busted because what they are promoting is some illegal stuff like a Ponzi scheme investment or something like a scam call center that is offering technical works in the computer but in reality, they are just simply scamming others and steal their money.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Unfortunately that's nothing new.

I am following a lot of scam buster youtube channels and often enough they confront scammers about what they are doing and sometimes these people get chatty and open up about they situation and why they are doing this.

Many have no other choice. When their education level might be not high enough to work in an reputable industry they are basically forced to do whatever in order to feed their families or them selves.

Often enough, when people go to job interviews they thing they are applying for a regular job, just to find out they actually need to scam people. Some of them feel bad about it and are left with choosing between being hungry or scam stranger they don't know and who they think have more than enough money anyway, because they live in the west.

This is a very sad situation and terrible for both sides.

Of course there is also total scum, people that love their "job". Mocking and insulting their victims and proudly showing off what they have accomplished.

[Hamza2424]

"Minimum Wage should not be Spendable it should be liveable", is a very deep moto, I was watching the documentary last night on the crime rate and how the daily wagers spend their life in my locality and I felt that how they are living in such hardships, We can't even bear one-time missing meal situations and they spend days in starvation.

Besides that the scammers who are being used to trap people are the puppets, I can agree with it but what can be their necessity for doing that it can't be the daily spending. The point is at the end of the day they get brought to this business by their greed. I know they are puppets there can the reasons but the weak time chooses the wrong path and it never ends well. I have never heard about any operation confronting the real ones. For the growth of economies, I think from where the most people get brought into this business are underdeveloped countries where they suffer from the hard times and eventually choose this way.

[Z-tight]

Think about that next time you are greeted by a scammer - don't give them any money of course, but it makes you feel sorry for their situation (not the fake made-up story that they tell you).

It is difficult to feel sorry for someone who is trying to deceive you into sending them your money, especially when you don't know what their situation is at the other end of the computer, but i understand what you are saying. Trafficking of different kinds exist of course, but is the number of people forced to work as online scammers so large? The quote you shared stated that it is "difficult to estimate", but i think it is arguable that most online scammers are working voluntarily and many of them even submit themselves to these scam networks to add to their workforce. Nevertheless it is the work of the authorities to stop these trafficking networks, but i am going to tell off any scammer trying to scam me.

[Lida93]

Governments of these affected states has a crucial role to play to end this modernized human trafficking under the auspice of scam.

The problem with fighting these scammers promoters are that some state elites are also into this business gaining a lot from it and will try as much as possible to sabotage every external force in cubbing this menace.

Another confusion is that we can't actually tell who's willfully executing these scams for these people to earn a wage from those that are actually forced in taking up the activity.

[ImThour]

Damn, so it's like an IT business if you know what I mean. People are paid to scam and they work for monthly wages which can be as low as $300.
And once they are willing to catch big fish, they get a percentage or reward out of it. It's like a living for most of the people especially in India. I have seen so many videos on the YouTube.
Maybe it's government organized? Like North Korea did with their hackers to hack Crypto and send it to their vaults.

[Ruttoshi]

I wouldn't feel sorry for these vulnerable victims because they are also corrupt and they are enjoying it. If not an upright man that finds himself in such mess wouldn't dance to their tunes but will rather face the consequences of disagreeing with them. Or better still,when they are out to buy some stuffs,they will go report to the police.

Do you know mental state that someone scammed will be in. I have seen a case whereby a scammed woman out of frustration had stroke and died because she couldn't face the loss. The world is very corrupt and that is why the rate of scamming is high. People hardly say the truth to get what they want from you. People display all sort of dubious actions just to steal people hard earned money.

Our politicians are also scammers,because before elections, they promise us with assurance that they will make the country a better place but after elections, funds that is meant for development of the country will be embezzled by them and when you want to tell them the truth, you will be killed.

[franky1]

many examples of this in the UK are where some head gang/scam manager sets up a human network of willing participants around the country. (much like the 'county borders' drug dealer network)

where by when scammers contact a victim and do things like saying their bank account has been hacked and the "police" want to send a courier to the victims address to collect their bank card "for evidence" along with driving licence, etc.


its not the head gang/manager of the scam that turns up pretending to be a "police courier" it is instead these willing participant dupes.. the pawns of the scam. and yes these dupes/pawns are usually illegal immigrants. but they also know that they are doing illicit activity.
yes these dupes/pawns are forced to work for scammers. usually they have to pay off their payment for getting them in the country but still they are doing illicit things.

ID is sold on darkweb. bank balances are ATM withdrawn or bank cards used to buy products which are then funnelled up the human network to the master scammer gang

many times when caught they are deported or arrested. because there is no rehab for being a illegal immigrant  
yes its slave labour but also they got into the country illegally so they are stuck unable to legally work so end up having to work for scammers
yes scammers are slave masters.. but what do you expect.. scammers are not known for their compassion/charity

i do believe these pawns should all try to get a lesser sentence plea deals with authorities if they are able to report on their handler.. but they should also know that crime doesnt pay

[Faisal2202]

This is quite worrying. I hope those who are stuck in such scammers jails will become free soon and that governments will take severe action against them. I mean, the mentioned countries are facing a lot of financial problems, and to face their daily expenses, one or two of the family members from each house or the third house are almost going away to work. How are they going? That's another discussion, but it's really not good to use someone when they are in need of money.

I hope governments will take action, and this information must be spread among loved ones who eagerly wish to go abroad for work while having good jobs here. I hope people will learn about this scam and how they can prevent it.

I did not wish to go abroad, but once I gave an interview in a call center quite a while ago, and there the interviewer asked me to read a script. I read it and explained it to him. But what I did not understand after reading that script is why we have to ask for personal information from others. Then that interviewer said we would use that information to break into their credit or debit cards, and then we would blackmail them to buy our product or use their cards. And I was stunned there after hearing that and tried to report the center, but I did not have any proof at the time. A few days ago, those scammers changed their office and moved to some other place. The point is that these types of people use the talents of others when they need help, either financially or personally. And that is so immoral.

[Ucy]

It's the typical issue of people getting trapped into doing the wrong kind of job because of money/rewards. All of them including the overlords, scammers and the scam victims fell victim to the money trap... It's the love of money trap, which billions of people around the world are held captive in like slaves are held captive by their master - Money.

It's incredibly hard to resist this trap. Only very few people out of billions resist it. The rest have been caught and have become part of the Matrix in the hands of a puppet master to run & maintain the system.

It's interesting to note that the puppet master will find it hard to thrive on a decentralized and transparent system. Decentralization weakens his power and transparency exposes their evil. He thrives in darkness of centralized systems where he controls his victims.
They are only able to successfully use crypto because they operate from their centralized darkness,but could easily be exposed on True Cryptocurrency Network where everyone will be monitoring the system for scammers and evil doers. Those caught get bad reputation and everyone will try to avoid them.

[Accardo]

I wouldn't feel sorry for these vulnerable victims because they are also corrupt and they are enjoying it. If not an upright man that finds himself in such mess wouldn't dance to their tunes but will rather face the consequences of disagreeing with them. Or better still,when they are out to buy some stuffs,they will go report to the police.

Indeed, they forget to know that their suffering won't end by instigating suffer on someone else. You've made a great point by encouraging civil disobedience on the scam lords. But, we forget that these people are forced to suffer other people, and not everyone have the courage to exit.  Consider the risk of traveling illegally to a different country. A move to the police or leave the house they hide in, can't come to mind. What happens to them if they get thrown out, who is going to accept them. So, their predators, use many con skills on them, torture, starve them, and risk their life in the eyes of the law. UN human rights provided good, but, rare to achieve solution to this, because these scam hubs can be sponsored by connected people. Thereby, knowing how to escape the law enforcement agencies. Moreover, these people are not citizens of the country, the both parties must end up in trouble. In many occasions these slaves are not forced to the house, greed also lands them into such a horrible condition. 

[ZAINmalik75]

I wouldn't feel sorry for these vulnerable victims because they are also corrupt and they are enjoying it. If not an upright man that finds himself in such mess wouldn't dance to their tunes but will rather face the consequences of disagreeing with them. Or better still,when they are out to buy some stuffs,they will go report to the police.

In the news, they said the behaviour towards those who are stuck is so inhuman that I do not think they might be allowing them to go outside. To some extent, few police officers and some others in high places know about these places, and they might be backing them up. But in the first place, I don't think they will be given the opportunity to move freely, as that's what inhuman means. I feel sorry for those who are stuck, and I pray that they will be free soon.

Do you know mental state that someone scammed will be in. I have seen a case whereby a scammed woman out of frustration had stroke and died because she couldn't face the loss.

I felt sad to hear this. I hope these types of scams will come to an end and those who are forced to do them will also be free. It is so hard to digest this information that people are being forced to do such things.

I think even if they have given permission to move freely, they might not be reporting them just because their lives are so dependent on that type of work.

[Nwada001]

This is really interesting, as I could have actually wondered the reason why these scammers activities are increasing day after day without them even getting tired or even planning to give up, but instead they keep on putting up more effort and bring up new scamming ideas like their lives depend on it. Who knows if their lives actually depend on it, as a situation as the above explained can put someone in a do-or-die can of state. Which means the victims don't have any other choice but to do it, and if you can get anything within a given period of time, who knows what's to become of the person who fails to meet the target? And this could also be happening like this in different part of the world and not just in Asia.

This has given me another kind of perspective when referring to these scammers. Instead of feeling pity for their scammed victims, I wil also feel guilty for the scammer on the other end, as I don't know what actually pushed them to do it. But whatever the case, scam is scam, and I should feel pity for them, as most of them might have even fine pleasure in doing what they are doing without having any form of remorse.

[taufik123]

-snip-
This has given me another kind of perspective when referring to these scammers. Instead of feeling pity for their scammed victims, I wil also feel guilty for the scammer on the other end, as I don't know what actually pushed them to do it. But whatever the case, scam is scam, and I should feel pity for them, as most of them might have even fine pleasure in doing what they are doing without having any form of remorse.

Why should you feel guilty, Peniou is evil they have committed fraud regardless of who the victim is and even those who are deceived are in a bad state.

Whatever background drives them to cheat will not affect their morals.
If they didn't really want to cheat they would have done many ways to get out of the zone.

Scammers are still scammers and that hurts a lot of people.
Most scammers don't even have a conscience, not thinking that their victims will be seriously affected by the scam.
Crypto is a terrible place for beginners when they get scammed because the scammers will disappear without a trace and the authorities will not take any action.

[Nwada001]

-snip-
This has given me another kind of perspective when referring to these scammers. Instead of feeling pity for their scammed victims, I wil also feel guilty for the scammer on the other end, as I don't know what actually pushed them to do it. But whatever the case, scam is scam, and I should feel pity for them, as most of them might have even fine pleasure in doing what they are doing without having any form of remorse.

Why should you feel guilty, Peniou is evil they have committed fraud regardless of who the victim is and even those who are deceived are in a bad state.

Yes, this one is on typographical error.
What I was meant to say was "Scam is scam, and I shouldn't feel pity for them," but my keyboard chose a completely different thing.

No matter the circumstances that scammers find themselves in, that does not justify the reason why they scam someone, as the victim did not know those ones, and even if they knew, losing something one worked so hard for to someone who can't even say a thank you appears to be really painful.

[Agbe]

I thought this board is mainly for Bitcoin Discussion well what do I know. This is interesting. Telegram is the king of scammers, and I was almost scammed yesterday in telegram. The scammer sent me dm that they have deposited money to my account and account is frozen so I should open link sent to me and register to continue the process, as I just told him that he was a scammer immediately he deleted everything. Those guys do not pity any of their victims. They are heartless. And one thing that also caused this setting up scam gang in the social media is lack job (unemployment), when the teaming youths could not use their youthful strength to work for themselves, they would convert that energy and talent to crime. Countries that high rate of employment has low crime rate than the one that have high unemployment rate.
And those scammers always end bad.

[Lanatsa]

I thought this before board is mainly for Bitcoin Discussion well what do I know. This is interesting. Telegram is the king of scammers, and I was almost scammed yesterday in telegram. The scammer sent me dm that they have deposited money to my account and account is frozen so I should open link sent to me and register to continue the process, as I just told him that he was a scammer immediately he deleted everything. Those guys do not pity any of their victims. They are heartless. And one thing that also caused this setting up scam gang in the social media is lack job (unemployment), when the teaming youths could not use their youthful strength to work for themselves, they would convert that energy and talent to crime. Countries that high rate of employment has low crime rate than the one that have high unemployment rate.
And those scammers always end bad.

A common scenario and whether we do like it or not then these numbers would really be bloating out as economic issues and problems will arise even more specially when it comes to unemployment on which it would

really be something the main reason on why people do really end up on this kind of path.Yes, its sad but it isnt a solid reason for you to scam people other hard earn money too. You wont really be getting scammed if you do really just know on how to make use of your own brain and common sense on which if you are that someone who do easily believe about easy money then you are really that susceptible to possible scamming attempt if ever there's someone would really be planning into your.

Mostly 3rd world countries or developing countries are the ones who are really that known with these hacking and scamming activities on which it is really that understandable on what drives them on doing so.
It is really just that shameful that they do really end up with this path on stealing other peoples money or simply which isnt theirs. As an individual then no one would really be getting scammed
if you do really just make yourself that fully wary on what things are happening around. You wont really be that so dumb if you do notice something odd.