Rescued Victims from a Myanmar Scam Center Leads to a Humanitarian Crisis

Author: Natalie Bello, PhD

June 16, 2025

Thanaphon Wuttison/AP via NPR

The rise of scam centers in Southeast Asia has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, as criminal networks, many originating in China, adapted to global shutdowns by shifting their operations online. These scams originated in this region from poorly regulated casinos and online gambling, starting in the 1990s (Naing, 2025). With the pandemic preventing gamblers from traveling, the growth in cyber-scamming expanded rapidly. Today, individuals from around the world, from Ethiopia to the Philippines, have been deceived and trafficked into working at these scam centers, where they are abused and forced to defraud others globally. This has evolved into a billion-dollar industry, with little sign of slowing down, according to experts (Grunebaum, 2024).

Local and international news outlets have reported that victims are lured with false promises of job opportunities, only to be confined in guarded compounds and forced to work. In January, the trafficking of Chinese actor Wang Xing to Myanmar made global news after he was persuaded to come to Thailand for a casting role with a major Thai entertainment company (Saksornchai, 2025). In response to the growing criminal activity in the region, Thailand has sought to disrupt operations by cutting electricity, internet, and gas supplies to five border towns in Myanmar (Naing, 2025).

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have collaborated with neighboring countries to crack down on these criminal networks. However, these efforts have not been sufficient to significantly impact the scam centers, nor have any ring leaders been arrested. In this region of Myanmar, control is held by ethnic militia groups such as the Kayin National Army (KNA) and the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA) after a military coup overthrew the democratically elected government, the National League for Democracy, in 2021. Junta military groups ruling in this area have been accused of protecting these illegal enterprises (Naing, 2025).

A Rescue Operation 

At the end of February, a joint operation by Thai, Chinese, and Myanmar authorities resulted in the rescue of over 7,000 people from a compound in Myanmar. It was one of the largest rescues of forced labor victims in modern history (Wu, Saksornchai, and Mendoza, 2025). Advocates view this as the first major crackdown, though it impacts only a small fraction of trafficking victims, with the total number estimated to be as high as 300,000 according to the United States Institute of Peace (Wu, Saksornchai, and Mendoza, 2025). However, this rescue mission has led to a growing humanitarian crisis. Rescued individuals are being held in “army camps or repurposed scam compounds” under the control of the Kayin Border Guard Force (also known as the Kayin National Army), where they face conditions similar to those they experienced in the scam centers (Wu, 2025).

There have been reports of "beatings, torture, and potentially even death" (Wu, 2025). The compounds are unsanitary, with men and women forced to sleep on the floor and eat whatever food is provided by the guards. One Indian man, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the guards, described being in a facility with 800 people sharing 10 dirty toilets (Wu, Saksornchai, and Mendoza, 2025). Rescued individuals have become sick and feverish with no medical attention available.

Victims are crammed into overcrowded spaces with their eyes, noses, and mouths covered with surgical masks (Wu, Saksornchai, and Mendoza, 2025). Not only have they been re-enslaved in these compound centers, but in some cases, individuals rescued from scam centers have been charged with crimes in their home countries, according to Amnesty International Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman (Wu, Saksornchai, and Mendoza, 2025). Although governments have begun taking steps to repatriate their citizens, approximately 1,700 individuals remain in Myanmar. In April, 270 people, many from Ethiopia and other African countries, attempted to escape after hearing guards threatening to send them back to the scam centers. The delays in repatriation have “caused severe physical and psychological suffering,” said Jay Kritiya, coordinator of the Civil Society Network for Victim Assistance in Human Trafficking (Wu, 2025).

The delay in repatriating these rescued individuals stems from several key challenges. Firstly, there are logistical issues, such as verifying individuals’ identities and coordinating with embassies the safe return of their citizens, which have significantly complicated the process (Saksornchai and Wu, 2025). While China has arranged charter flights to retrieve its citizens and many Indonesians have been transported by bus to the Bangkok Airport, other countries have yet to demonstrate the same level of response. For example, roughly 130 Ethiopian citizens were waiting in a Thai military base without a way to pay for a $600 plane ticket home (Wu, Saksornchai, and Mendoza, 2025). Secondly, assistance is scarce. Amy Miller, the Southeast Asia director of Acts of Mercy International stated, “When we’re looking at numbers in the thousands, the ability to get them over to Thailand and process them and house them and feed them would be impossible for most governments” (Wu, Saksornchai, and Mendoza, 2025). The abrupt halt on the United States foreign aid from the Trump administration has made it more challenging to provide help to trafficking victims and has “impacted a network of civil society groups that worked to stop human trafficking and rescue survivors in Thailand” (Wu, Saksornchai, and Mendoza, 2025).

Despite efforts to rescue large numbers of individuals from trafficking, many have been revictimized and left wondering if anyone is coming for them. A global response is essential to combat cyber scamming, as continued inaction by governments has only allowed this criminal industry to flourish. In Western nations, there can be a tendency to view this as a distant issue affecting only Southeast Asian countries or to place blame on those trafficked into scam centers. Yet, these individuals are victims in their own right. In an increasingly interconnected world, the events happening in one region of the world inevitably impact others. It is therefore imperative that governments commit to large-scale action, by cracking down on trafficking networks and by supporting international efforts to protect not just their own citizens, but vulnerable people everywhere.

If you are interested in learning more about cyber scams in Southeast Asia, check out articles written by researchers at the Human Rights Research Center, who have also addressed this critical human rights issue (see articles by Shuning Chen, MA and Esther Annorzie). 

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 Glossary

• Cyber Scamming- Online scamming occurs when an individual or group uses internet services or software to deceive and defraud victims. Scammers typically reach out through email, text messages, phone calls, or social media. There are various types of scams, with the most common including fraudulent investments, bank fraud, romance or dating scams, fake job offers, online shopping scams, and charity scams.

• Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA) - The DKBA is an insurgent group of Buddhist soldiers and officers in Myanmar that split from the Christian-led Kayin National Liberation Army.

• Foreign Aid - Foreign aid is the international transfer of goods, services, or capital to a country or organization in need. It can take the form of economic assistance, military support, or emergency humanitarian relief.

• Junta - A military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force.

• Human Trafficking - Human trafficking involves the recruitment, harboring, transportation, or obtaining of a person through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This can include sexual exploitation, forced labor, domestic servitude, or the transportation of drugs or other illicit items. It is widely regarded as a form of modern-day slavery.

• Kayin - It is an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to southern and southeastern Myanmar, speaking the Karenic languages. The anglicized term for Kayin is Karen.

• Kayin National Army (KNA) - Formally known as the Kayin Border Guard Force, is a Kayin Buddhist ethnic armed group operating in Myanmar's Kayin State. The group was a subdivision of the Myanmar Army, but in January 2024 they split from the Myanmar Army amid escalating rebel activity and wanting to begin distancing itself from the ruling military junta.

• Military Coup - A military coup is the illegal seizure of power by the armed forces, often by overthrowing a democratically elected government. It typically involves a sudden and forceful takeover and is regarded as a form of political violence.

• National League for Democracy - The National League for Democracy (NLD) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). It rose to power following a landslide victory in the 2015 general elections and won a second election in 2020. However, the party was overthrown by the military in 2021. Prior to the coup, the NLD was led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

• Repatriation - It is the process of returning a person to their home country.

• Revictimization - Revictimization occurs when a person or group experiences harm again after previously being victimized by a similar or different injustice.