THE United Nations Human Rights Office warned Monday that people are continuing to be trafficked by the hundreds of thousands into sprawling criminal scam operations across Southeast Asia and beyond, with victims subjected to torture, extortion and forced labour in fortress-like compounds that can span more than 500 acres.
The warning came as the office published an updated report on the crisis, finding that nearly three-quarters of the operations are concentrated in the Mekong region, with networks having spread to Pacific Island nations, South Asia, the Gulf States, West Africa and the Americas.
Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence described conditions inside the compounds as severe. Survivors reported being held in heavily fortified, multi-storey buildings ringed by barbed wire and guarded by armed security personnel. Those who failed to meet monthly targets for online fraud — including impersonation scams, romantic fraud and financial crimes — faced brutal punishment.
“One victim from Sri Lanka relates how those who failed to meet monthly scamming targets were subject to immersion in water containers, known as ‘water prisons’, for hours,” Laurence told reporters at a press briefing in Geneva.
Other survivors described being forced to beat fellow captives or watch friends being assaulted in front of them. Traffickers also recorded abuse on video and streamed it to victims’ families to extort ransoms, according to the report. Some people died attempting to escape, falling from balconies and rooftops within the compounds.
Failed escape attempts drew severe retaliation. One Vietnamese victim told investigators her sister was beaten, tasered and locked in a room without food for seven days after attempting to flee.
Pia Oberoi, a senior UN Human Rights officer and co-author of the report, said researchers sought to understand why recruitment into these operations has continued more than two years after the alarm was first raised in a 2023 report.
The answer, she said, lies in economic desperation and misplaced trust. Most victims had few viable options when they accepted what appeared to be legitimate job offers, facing pressure to pay off family debts, fund relatives’ education or cover medical costs for ageing parents.
“Nearly three-quarters of survivors reported being recruited through someone they trusted,” Oberoi said, underscoring how traffickers exploit personal networks to lure victims under false pretences.
She cautioned that awareness campaigns alone would not be enough to stem the crisis. “Powerful behavioural drivers are drawing victims into these violent and coercive scam operations,” she said. “Information campaigns on their own are therefore unlikely to prevent fraudulent recruitment.”
The report calls for a broader response addressing the structural economic vulnerabilities that traffickers exploit.
