Thousands of sick, exhausted and terrified young men and women, from countries all over the world squat in rows, packed shoulder to shoulder, surgical masks covering their mouths and eyes.
Their nightmare was supposed to be over.
Last month, a dramatic and highly publicised operation by Thai, Chinese and Myanmar authorities led to the release of more than 7,000 people from locked compounds in Myanmar where they were forced to trick Americans and others out of their life savings. But survivors have found themselves trapped once again, this time in overcrowded facilities with no medical care, limited food and no idea when they will be sent home.
An Indian said about 800 people were being held in the same facility as him, sharing 10 dirty toilets. On condition of anonymity, he said many of the people there were feverish and coughing.
The armed groups who are holding the survivors, as well as Thai officials across the border, say they are awaiting action from the detainees’ home governments.
It’s one of the largest potential rescues of forced labourers in modern history, but advocates say the first major effort to crack down on the cyber scam industry has turned into a growing humanitarian crisis.
‘Living hell’
The people released are just a small fraction of what could be 3,00,000 people working in similar scam operations across the region, according to an estimate from the United States Institute of Peace. Human rights groups and analysts add that the networks that run these illegal scams will continue to operate unless much broader action is taken against them.
The trapped people were initially lured to Thailand with promises of lucrative office jobs, only to find themselves locked in buildings where they describe being forced to sit at computers for up to 16 hours a day running scams. Refusing to work could bring beatings, starvation and electric shocks.
“Your passport is confiscated, you cannot go outside and everything is like hell, a living hell,” a Pakistani man said.
Cyber scams run from compounds have flourished during the pandemic, targeting people around the world. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes estimates that between $18 billion and $37 billion was lost in Asia alone in 2023, with minimal government action against the criminal industry’s spread.
Beijing began pushing the region’s governments to crack down this year after a young Chinese actor was trafficked to Myanmar by people who promised him an acting job in Thailand. His girlfriend spearheaded a campaign that led to his release.
Following that rescue, a senior Chinese government official visited Thailand and Myanmar demanding an end to the scams. In response, Thailand cut electricity, Internet and gas supplies to five border towns in Myanmar.
Shortly after, the ethnic militia groups that rule this part of Myanmar — the Kayin Border Guard Force and the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army — asked some of the trapped scammers if they wanted to leave, and then escorted them out of their compounds.
As the number of people released grew into the thousands, formerly enslaved scammers found themselves caught in indefinite detention just across a narrow, slow-moving river’s width from freedom.
Most are being held either in Army camps controlled by the Kayin Border Guard Force, or repurposed scam compounds, where many have been since early February.
For weeks, men and women have shared unsanitary conditions, sleeping on the floor and eating what their captors provide. At one point, the Border Guard Force said that, over 7,000 people were crammed into these facilities, as China began busing citizens across the border for flights.
An unconfirmed list provided by authorities in Myanmar says they are holding citizens from 29 countries including the Philippines, Kenya and the Czech Republic.
Authorities in Thailand say they cannot allow foreigners to cross the border from Myanmar unless they can be sent home immediately.
China sent a chartered flight on Thursday to the tiny Mae Sot airport to pick up a group of its citizens, but few other governments have matched that. There are roughly 130 Ethiopians waiting in a Thai military base, stuck for want of a $600 plane ticket. Dozens of Indonesians were bused out one-morning last week, pushing suitcases and carrying plastic bags with their meagre possessions as they headed to Bangkok for a flight home.
Thai officials held a meeting this week with representatives from foreign embassies, promising to move “as quickly as possible” to allow them to rescue their trapped citizens. But they warned that Thailand can only manage to receive 300 people per day, down from 500 previously, Monday through Fridays. It also announced it would let embassy staff cross over into Myanmar.
The Indian Embassy in Bangkok did not respond to requests for comment.
The recent abrupt halt to U.S. foreign aid funding has made it even harder to get help to released scam centre workers.
“What we are seeing at the Thai-Myanmar border now is the result of years of inaction on a trafficking crisis that has had a devastating impact on thousands of people, many of whom were simply seeking better economic prospect, but were lured to these compounds on false pretenses,” said Amnesty International Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman.
Published – March 10, 2025 10:00 am IST
