{"id":4788,"date":"2026-08-20T14:12:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justfineinfotech.com\/they-escaped-south-east-asias-scam-compounds-then-they-realised-they-were-still-trapped\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:12:21","slug":"they-escaped-south-east-asias-scam-compounds-then-they-realised-they-were-still-trapped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justfineinfotech.com\/fr\/they-escaped-south-east-asias-scam-compounds-then-they-realised-they-were-still-trapped\/","title":{"rendered":"They escaped south-east Asia\u2019s scam compounds. Then they realised they were still trapped"},"content":{"rendered":"
A compound report<\/a>edly used by scam operators in O\u2019Smach, Cambodia. Photograph: Chalinee Thirasupa\/Reuters<\/figcaption>
A compound reportedly used by scam operators in O\u2019Smach, Cambodia. Photograph: Chalinee Thirasupa\/Reuters<\/figcaption>They escaped south-east Asia\u2019s scam compounds. Then they realised they were still trapped<\/p>\n

The cyber-fraud industry has flourished in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, with thousands of people trafficked into the industry. But even those who have managed to find a way out often cannot return home<\/p>\n

Artillery fire thundered. Windows shattered. Roofs caved in. And thousands of foreign workers \u2013 many who had been tricked and trafficked into the vast cyber-fraud industry that has flourished in south-east Asia \u2013 fled<\/p>\n

For a brief moment, the regional crackdown appeared to mark a turning point in one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing criminal industries, which has defrauded millions of people globally and generated billions of dollars for organised crime networks. Police and troops across Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar conducted mass raids to empty and demolish some of the region\u2019s massive scam centres. But for many of those who escaped, freedom was only the beginning of another ordeal.<\/p>\n

Months later, the consequences are still unfolding in Cambodia, where thousands of survivors from Africa, Latin America and Asia remain stranded without passports, money or any clear route home<\/p>\n

They have drifted to the capital, Phnom Penh, where they are sleeping rough and surviving hand to mouth. Thousands who have sought help have been placed in immigration detention centres. With those centres now overflowing, one former scam compound, Mango 2, has even been transformed into a detention centre, housing some of the very people it was meant to rescue<\/p>\n

Visa overstay fines that survivors began to accrue during captivity have mounted into the thousands of dollars, leaving those unable to pay trapped. Support from the decimated aid industry is rapidly running out. With limited options, some survivors have even begun accepting offers to return to the scam compounds they risked everything to escape, say experts<\/p>\n

\n\"People
Indonesians freed from scam centres in Cambodia sleep outside their embassy in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt is an absolute mess,\u201d said Judah Tana, who has helped thousands of trafficking victims escape scam compounds through his anti-human trafficking NGO, Global Advance Projects. \u201cNo one can figure out how to get home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emmanuel*, 27, from Liberia, is one of them. He travelled to Cambodia after being offered what he believed was a legitimate graphic design job. Instead, he says, he was driven to a compound in the jungle, his passport and phone were confiscated and he was ordered to defraud Americans and Europeans through online scams<\/p>\n

When he refused, he was threatened with the \u201cdark room\u201d, a punishment cell where workers were beaten and tortured. Armed guards surrounded the compound to prevent escape<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no way out. I was cut off from the outside world,\u201d he says. \u201cI watched people being beaten so badly for not working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emmanuel says he struggled to meet the targets imposed by his supervisors and soon became the one being punished. He says he was starved for days, beaten and shocked with electric batons. The compound bordered a fast-flowing river, where he saw people drown trying to escape<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was impossible to run away,\u201d he says. \u201cEventually I just gave up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, almost a year into his ordeal, the raids began<\/p>\n

Emmanuel says the compound\u2019s managers fled as police closed in, allowing about 400 workers to escape. But freedom brought a new set of problems. He had no shelter, no possessions and no money, and his visa had long expired. \u201cI was scared the police would put me in prison,\u201d he says<\/p>\n

His family raised enough money to buy him a ticket home, but when he arrived at the airport, he says officials refused to let him leave<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re saying nobody can leave who was at these compounds, and that also we have to pay an overstay fee \u2013 mine is almost $4,000 [\u00a33,000],\u201d he says. \u201cI am trapped again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"A
Young people rescued from human traffickers in Cambodia arrive at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. Photograph: Vincent Thian\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aid groups now warn a humanitarian crisis is gathering pace. The problem, they say, is that those who escaped the compounds are being treated as perpetrators rather than victims<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not doing any screening at all,\u201d says Mechelle Moore, CEO of anti-trafficking NGO Global Alms Incorporated. \u201cThey\u2019re treating everyone coming out of a scamming operation as a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amnesty International said in June that none of the 73 survivors it had interviewed had been recognised as a victim of human trafficking, even though in the NGO\u2019s own assessment, they all met the definition<\/p>\n

Without this recognition, those in need cannot access emergency accommodation, legal assistance or repatriation programmes. The lack of safe shelter has exposed survivors to new risks. \u201cWe have had several cases of women reporting sexual abuse when they are sleeping outside,\u201d says Ling Li of the nonprofit EOS Collective<\/p>\n

The dismantling of the scam compounds was also short-lived, experts say. Criminal networks have already rebuilt, relocated and begun recruiting again. \u201cThe compounds that were emptied in Myanmar have already filled up again,\u201d says Moore. \u201cThe bosses came back. Everything is active again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her organisation has documented at least nine new scam compounds built in the past six months in Myanmar and continues to receive calls from people who have recently been trafficked into the industry. \u201cThe problem isn\u2019t going away,\u201d she says<\/p>\n

In Cambodia, scam centres are turning to the desperate group of former workers unable to leave the country, researchers say. Moore described a \u201cmass recruitment drive\u201d among survivors sleeping rough<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bosses have realised there are all these people still there, sleeping on the streets,\u201d she says. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to pay recruitment fees or flights any more. They are scooping them up and sending them straight into another compound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tana says the crisis has exposed a gap between foreign governments demanding the rescue of their citizens and their willingness to repatriate them<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had countries screaming, \u2018Rescue my people, rescue my people,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cThen they do it, they call the countries and say, \u2018Come and pick them up,\u2019 and the countries say, \u2018No.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"A
Raids on compounds said to be scam centres were conducted across south-east Asia at the beginning of the year. Photograph: Chalinee Thirasupa\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matthew*, a 34-year-old Ethiopian IT graduate, is among those who say they received no support from their government<\/p>\n

He thought he had been hired for a hardware and software maintenance job in Cambodia. The advert promised at least $850 a month, plus accommodation, food and a visa. \u201cFor me, it was huge money,\u201d he says<\/p>\n

A week later, he flew to Phnom Penh before being driven to a vast compound near the Vietnamese border. Inside were apartment blocks, restaurants and shops. Uniformed guards stood at the entrances. \u201cI didn\u2019t realise it was a compound,\u201d he says. \u201cIt looked like a city.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was only on his first day that he realised he had been deceived. His passport and phone were taken away, and another worker told him he would not be fixing software after all. Instead, he would be running online investment scams<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I wanted to go home,\u201d Matthew says. \u201cI was told that if I tried to escape, I would either be tortured or die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew was ordered to pose as a wealthy woman online, persuading people in the Philippines to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes. Missing targets or des were beaten, fined and publicly humiliated; workers had their heads shaved, men were forced to wear dresses. In more serious cases, staff were given electric shocks<\/p>\n

After several months he was transferred to another compound. \u201cI was sold,\u201d he says<\/p>\n

When Cambodian authorities raided scam compounds at the beginning of the year, Matthew says his bosses hurriedly removed African workers from the compound, hiding them in a nearby house. \u201cThe police raid was a miracle,\u201d he says<\/p>\n

The group remained confined in the house for two weeks and then eventually their passports were returned and they were freed. Later Matthew learned the bosses had fled to Malaysia<\/p>\n

For the first time in months, he was free. But he was also stranded. Like Emmanuel, he had no money, no valid visa and nowhere to go. \u201cThere is a thin line between forced labour and a criminal,\u201d he says<\/p>\n

Ethiopia has no embassy in Cambodia, leaving Matthew to seek assistance through its embassy in South Korea. He says repeated requests for help went unanswered. Without work, food or shelter, he survived on donations from strangers<\/p>\n

\u201cMost Africans have faced the same problem,\u201d he says. \u201cOur governments say they are not responsible for us. Our embassies do not reply, and so we are stranded in Cambodia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"A
A compound said to have been operating as a scam centre in Takeo province, Cambodia. Photograph: Roun Ry\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kenya, Uganda and Ghana \u2013 whose citizens were among those rescued from scam compounds \u2013 also lack resident embassies in Cambodia, leaving survivors reliant on embassies elsewhere in the region for consular assistance<\/p>\n

The Cambodian interior ministry has previously rejected criticisms of how it has handled the crisis, saying authorities have \u201crescued\u201d hundreds of thousands of scam workers, including trafficking victims, and repatriated them \u201cwith the utmost care, in accordance with the law\u201d. It did not respond to the Guardian\u2019s requests for information<\/p>\n

For those who escaped south-east Asia\u2019s scam compounds, rescue has not meant safety. Instead, many have simply exchanged one form of captivity for another<\/p>\n

*Names have been changed<\/em><\/p>\n

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Source: www.theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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