Name: Many workers remain trapped amid Southeast Asia scam center crackdown
Uploaded: 2025-11-01T15:14:10.543Z
Duration: 2 min 18 s
Description: More than 1,500 foreign nationals have escaped into Thailand from scam centers in Myanmar and Cambodia. Many bring stories of kidnap, illegal detention and torture at the hands of criminal gangs who are making billions of dollars from online scams.

More than 1,500 foreign nationals have escaped into Thailand from scam centers in Myanmar and Cambodia. Many bring stories of kidnap, illegal detention and torture at the hands of criminal gangs who are making billions of dollars from online scams.

Bangkok

Scam centers in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia's Poipet and Myanmar, continue to exploit thousands of foreign workers, luring them with false promises of high salaries and then detaining them against their will. Many victims, including individuals from India and East Africa, face torture and violence if they fail to meet the demands of criminal gangs running online fraud operations.

A recent ceasefire agreement between Cambodia and Thailand has brought renewed focus to the issue, with both countries pledging to cooperate in shutting down these scam centers. Despite the escape of 1,500 victims from a Myanmar facility in the past week, authorities estimate that hundreds of thousands remain trapped and forced to work under harsh conditions.

Many workers remain trapped amid Southeast Asia scam center crackdown

Cambodia's alleged cybercrime hub in the border city of Poipet. Also known as scam centres, it's from offices like this that gangs run online romance and cryptocurrency fraud. The workers, tempted with the promise of high salaries, then kept against their will. Many tortured if they don't meet the target set by the gangs. That happened to Som, whose identity has been hidden. She'd been held since August, until she escaped the night before we met. I was electrocuted with an electric baton. I was beaten, and before I fled, I was pistol whipped. I understand two weeks ago you saw something really terrible involving another victim called Nikki. The Chinese bosses brought back a Thai guy who tried to escape. They handcuffed him and put electric wires around his handcuffs and plugged them in. They electrocuted him until he died. For several years the problem has been ignored. But a recent border ceasefire deal between Cambodia and Thailand, brokered by US President Donald Trump, brought the scam centre issue into focus. One of the key parts of the peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia is shutting down scam centres that are operating just across the border here in the Cambodian town of Poipet. But that's going to be incredibly complicated and require a lot of cooperation from law enforcement on both sides. It's an international problem. Thousands of Indians and East Africans have been lured into the region for their English language skills. They're particularly vulnerable. Easily identifiable, it's hard to escape. About 30 Tanzanians are currently thought to be trapped in scam centres, with thousands of Kenyans, Ugandans and Ethiopians. Their plight is often ignored. You wouldn't expect that attention would go to people coming from far away rather than within the region. This is about geographic and economic reasons. In the past week, 1,500 victims have managed to escape from a scam centre in Myanmar called KK Park. But that's just a fraction of the hundreds of thousands estimated still trapped and forced to work as cyber slaves. Tony Cheng, Al Jazeera, Thailand.

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