Scam centres are compounds often linked to transnational criminal networks that are part of a global, multibillion dollar online fraud industry that has proliferated in south-east Asia in recent years. Countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have become havens for the criminal activity, which spans online fraud, human trafficking, slavery and money laundering.
Lawless border areas in the region have become particular areas of concern, with satellite imagery and research showing that scam operations have more than doubled along the Thai-Myanmar border since Myanmar’s junta seized power in 2021.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked and forced to work at scam compounds, with at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia likely forced to work in the centres, data fromthe United Nations shows.
“South-east Asia is the ground zero for the global scamming industry,” said Benedikt Hofmann, from the UN agency to combat drugs and crime, UNODC.
The industry is global, with people from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America lured by the false promise of an office job and forced to scam people around the globe. On arrival they are held against their will and forced to generate income through carrying out online scams, using social media and messaging apps to target victims. Inside the compounds, workers are trapped, and sometimes tortured, with well documented reports of beatings and electric shocks.
Thailand has launched a crackdown on the scam centre industry by cutting off electricity, fuel and internet. Myanmar’s military has reportedly raided a major scam centre, where troops detained more than 2,100 people and seized Starlink satellite internet terminals.
