Southeast Asia trafficked cybervictims freed but far from home

TimesLIVE

30-05-2025

Fearing he was being trafficked for his organs, it was a relief to know he could keep them, he said. Instead he was forced to spend his time creating fake profiles to engage a minimum of five people every day in online relationships.
'I would talk to the target like, 'Baby please invest in this, you will get good profit',' said Palit, who wanted only his first name disclosed.
Well known among forced labourers, Jinnmonca's personal Facebook pings with messages, typically four new people each day, begging for help and sharing stories such as Palit's.
Is help coming?
The cross-border nature of trafficking rescue makes the repatriation process difficult and slow, said Amy Miller, regional director for Southeast Asia at Acts of Mercy International, which supports survivors.
'They are complaining about the wait time,' she said. 'There are people who are sick that are maybe not getting treatment. It's a tinder box ready to go up in flames.'
The problem of how to process and provide for so many victims is deterring Myanmar's law enforcement from further rescue operations, Miller said, so the potential for future operations is unclear.
'I don't feel super confident that this is a reform of the compounds or that they're going to shut down,' she said.
Targeting workers
Jinnmonca said he believes the most effective way to protect against trafficking and the scams is to imprison the masterminds at the top.
'If [we do] not fix this problem, it will double.'
Instead, he said, the workers are targeted by authorities.
When Palit, who is soft-spoken and quick to smile, was released from a scam centre in November 2023 with 328 other people, 10 of them were arrested. They were accused of being complicit in cybercrime and kidnapping because their language skills gave them leadership roles in the compound's living quarters.
But they were victims as well, said Jinnmonca, and such arrests mean workers rescued from the clutches of criminal gangs in one country may face prison in another.