Human trafficking in the form of forced labour carried out by on-line scammers has significantly intensified in Myanmar and some other neighbouring countries, raising concerns among authorities and non-governmental agencies in the region.

The Bangkok office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has sounded the alarm after seeing a drastic surge in the number of people that it assisted since 2022. 

The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a transition towards a new normal in which more and more people have been working from home, providing on-line scammers an opportunity for their fraudulent activities.  Such on-line frauds have reached an unprecedented scale, prompting the Interpol to issue an orange notice on human trafficking-fuelled frauds last June.

The pandemic forced many businesses to close, sending a huge number of people out of job. Scammers have taken advantage of the situation to prey on their victims’ hunger for jobs.

Géraldine Ansart, the chief of mission for IOM Thailand, shared with Thai PBS World the plight of the 300 or so of fraud victims referred to the organization and its partners. 

She said some of these victims were recruited on-line and went through interviews during which they saw what they believed were pictures of the compounds where they were told they would be working.

“However, when they arrived, they were moved to another location, for instance in the North of Thailand, and then they were made to cross the border without even them knowing. They ended up in these compounds guarded by armed guards and were unable to leave unless they would pay a large amount of money or escape,”  she said. 

Various scams have reportedly been carried out from locations in Myanmar, close to the Thai border. They include romance, cryptocurrency scams and on-line phishing. 

Rescued victims have common tales of being subject to mental and physical violence.  Most said if they didn’t cooperate, their handlers would threaten to have them resold to  another employer and even to have their organs removed and sold.

Testimonies also mention physical abuse. The victims would be beaten up or electrocuted if they did not reach the targets set by the traffickers. Some were also denied food or water for certain periods of time. Many said they were deprived of sleep and suffered from mental anguish as they had to work 18 hours a day on average, under extremely stressful conditions. 

Thailand has been actively working alongside the IOM, non-governmental organizations and other countries to rescue many of the scam victims. 

 “After encountering a considerable increase in the number of victims being referred to us, we spoke with the government of Thailand, with whom we work closely. There were discussions, engagement, consultations between the government, the different ministries but also the consular authorities from the different embassies that have been affected by the situation,” Géraldine said.

“The government has issued and approved last year a new policy framework, a national document called the NRM, National Referral Mechanism, on protection and assistance of victims of trafficking. It’s a new approach and standard operational procedures for the different frontline officers and ministries to work together, to be able to screen, identify, assist and refer potential victims of trafficking,” she said.

Thai Ambassador to Myanmar Mongkol Visitstump met with his Chinese and Lao counterparts on August 23rd to discuss joint efforts to tackle human trafficking and other crimes in Myanmar. The three embassies have committed to helping the Myanmar government in cracking down on criminal syndicates.  

Victims of human trafficking are not only citizens of countries in Southeast Asia, but also those from Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka as well as those from as far as South America, West Africa, East Africa, and Europe.