Hundreds of thousands forced to scam in SE Asia: UN

[Social Media]

 

A new UN report estimates that hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have been trafficked to Southeast Asia to run online scams.

At least 120,000 people in Myanmar, and another 100,000 in Cambodia, have been forced into working these scams.

Most victims are men from Asia, but some have come from further afield such as Africa and Latin America.

While the problem has existed for years, the UN report is the first comprehensive study of its scale.

As pandemic-related shutdowns saw millions of people stuck in their homes and spending more time online, they became ready targets for the masterminds of online fraud schemes, according to the report.

And while criminal gangs have traditionally preyed on less-educated people desperate to make a quick buck, they are now targeting victims with professional jobs, who often have graduate or even post-graduate degrees.

 

Many of these places where people are forced into cybercrime are in jurisdictions where governance and the rule of law are weak, and authority is contested, the report said.

"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," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

The UN estimates that these scams centres generate billions of US dollars in revenue per year.

Various media outlets including the BBC have spoken extensively to people who have fallen victim to these criminal networks.

Often, they are lured by ads promising easy work and extravagant perks, then tricked into travelling to Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Once they arrive, they are held prisoner and forced to work in online scam centres. Those who do not comply face threats to their safety. Many have been subject to torture and inhuman treatment.

 

Some networks also target people seeking love and romance - in what's often known as "pig-butchering" scams. In a tragic case last year, a 25-year-old Malaysian was tortured to death after he went to Bangkok to meet a "girlfriend" he had only spoken to online.

Instead, he was trafficked to Myanmar and forced to work for companies involved in online scams. In one of his last calls to his parents, he said he had been beaten up for allegedly faking illness. He died after being in intensive care for a month.

 

FULL STORY

[JingerBen]

I haven't met too many scammers who were "forced" to scam.

For the overwhelming majority it seemed more like second nature to me.

[placeholder]

3 hours ago, JingerBen said:

I haven't met too many scammers who were "forced" to scam.

For the overwhelming majority it seemed more like second nature to me.

"Often, they are lured by ads promising easy work and extravagant perks, then tricked into travelling to Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Once they arrive, they are held prisoner and forced to work in online scam centres. Those who do not comply face threats to their safety. Many have been subject to torture and inhuman treatment."

 

You spend a lot of time in online scan centres?

 

Ad if you had bothered to read the whole story, you would have learned of one worker who was beaten for faking an illness. He ultimately died of his injuries.

[bizboi]

16 hours ago, placeholder said:

"Often, they are lured by ads promising easy work and extravagant perks, then tricked into travelling to Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Once they arrive, they are held prisoner and forced to work in online scam centres. Those who do not comply face threats to their safety. Many have been subject to torture and inhuman treatment."

 

You spend a lot of time in online scan centres?

 

Ad if you had bothered to read the whole story, you would have learned of one worker who was beaten for faking an illness. He ultimately died of his injuries.

Many do it out of choice 

[Purdey]

I don't know why I get calls from a Filipina saying she can make me rich.  

[MisterTee]

On 8/30/2023 at 7:21 PM, JingerBen said:

I haven't met too many scammers who were "forced" to scam.

For the overwhelming majority it seemed more like second nature to me.

So true.

People held against their will at call-centres are totally different than freelance scammers.

To equate the two is ludicrous.

This smells like another attempt by social engineers to excuse and normalize deviant, and sometimes criminal behaviour.

[JonnyF]

On 8/30/2023 at 11:08 PM, placeholder said:

"Often, they are lured by ads promising easy work and extravagant perks, then tricked into travelling to Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Once they arrive, they are held prisoner and forced to work in online scam centres. Those who do not comply face threats to their safety. Many have been subject to torture and inhuman treatment."

 

You spend a lot of time in online scan centres?

 

Ad if you had bothered to read the whole story, you would have learned of one worker who was beaten for faking an illness. He ultimately died of his injuries.

Maybe you could sympathise with the honest individual (often elderly) who has been scammed out of their hard earned life savings, rather than with the scammer who claims he was "forced to do it"?

 

These people know what they are doing. They think it is easy money and then when they get caught they roll out the usual sob story. 

 

I know the left love to sympathize with criminals but this might be a bit OTT even by your standards.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

Maybe you could sympathise with the honest individual (often elderly) who has been scammed out of their hard earned life savings, rather than with the scammer who claims he was "forced to do it"?

 

These people know what they are doing. They think it is easy money and then when they get caught they roll out the usual sob story. 

 

I know the left love to sympathize with criminals but this might be a bit OTT even by your standards.

Did he say he doesn’t.

 

Sympathy for those ensnared by criminal gangs and sympathy for the victims of scams perpetrated by criminal gangs are not mutually exclusive.

[placeholder]

7 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Maybe you could sympathise with the honest individual (often elderly) who has been scammed out of their hard earned life savings, rather than with the scammer who claims he was "forced to do it"?

 

These people know what they are doing. They think it is easy money and then when they get caught they roll out the usual sob story. 

 

I know the left love to sympathize with criminals but this might be a bit OTT even by your standards.

Clearly you didn't need the article or maybe you're one of those individuals who think that captive labor is the thing of the past in Asia.

[JonnyF]

Just now, placeholder said:

Clearly you didn't need the article or maybe you're one of those individuals who think that captive labor is the thing of the past in Asia.

More victim blaming nonsense.

 

My sympathy is with those scammed out of their life savings. Not the scammer who comes up with with some lame "they made me do it" excuse. Pathetic.

[placeholder]

5 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

More victim blaming nonsense.

 

My sympathy is with those scammed out of their life savings. Not the scammer who comes up with with some lame "they made me do it" excuse. Pathetic.

By now you should know the forum rules about making claims without supporting evidence. So we either put up or...

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

More victim blaming nonsense.

 

My sympathy is with those scammed out of their life savings. Not the scammer who comes up with with some lame "they made me do it" excuse. Pathetic.

Did you really just say ‘victim blaming’?

 

 

[youreavinalaff]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

never trust a thai.  I learnt that after being cheated. They just think it's ok. 

 

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

forgot to add ....   lowlifes imo

Lowlifes? All of them? Just because you got cheated? 

 

Such a sad outlook.

[Lorry]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/17/world/asia/myanmar-cyber-scam.html

[tonbridgebrit]

Is it really the case that vast numbers of people have turned up in South East Asia, and become slaves ?  These people flew long distances, thinking about a lucrative job ?  I'm not saying the above story is made up, I just feel something is not right about the story.

If organised crime wanted to get people, lock them inside buildings, force them to work, well, why bother to encourage people to fly from all over the world, to South East Asia ?

How about go to anywhere in Thailand, look at whatever young tourist on a lonely road, attack him and abduct him ?  Take him to a building, and have him locked up in a building, and force him to work ?  Or indeed, young back-packer is in a tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuk takes him on a route that's not suppose to be. Stop tuk-tuk at a quite road, four men have been told to be there. And, oh look, young man is now abducted and locked in a building. That would be easier and simpler than luring somebody all the way from some other part of the world, surely ?

 

[placeholder]

28 minutes ago, tonbridgebrit said:

Is it really the case that vast numbers of people have turned up in South East Asia, and become slaves ?  These people flew long distances, thinking about a lucrative job ?  I'm not saying the above story is made up, I just feel something is not right about the story.

If organised crime wanted to get people, lock them inside buildings, force them to work, well, why bother to encourage people to fly from all over the world, to South East Asia ?

How about go to anywhere in Thailand, look at whatever young tourist on a lonely road, attack him and abduct him ?  Take him to a building, and have him locked up in a building, and force him to work ?  Or indeed, young back-packer is in a tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuk takes him on a route that's not suppose to be. Stop tuk-tuk at a quite road, four men have been told to be there. And, oh look, young man is now abducted and locked in a building. That would be easier and simpler than luring somebody all the way from some other part of the world, surely ?

 

Except that such people tend to come from wealthy backgrounds. So their families have the means to investigate. People who would respond to the advertisements for such work are far less likely to be well connected.