A group of 23 Ugandans were freed from ‘slave-like’ conditions in cyberscam compounds in rebel-held territory in southern Myanmar’s Karen State, following a deal in March brokered by Uganda’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Betty Bigombe. Another ten remain trapped with negotiations ongoing.

Trafficking to cyberscam compounds has become a matter of global concern, with people from dozens of countries caught in its web. Lured by the promise of well-paid jobs – often through unscrupulous brokers – workers soon find they are unable to leave the heavily-guarded compounds. They are forced to work long hours, conning internet users abroad into investing in sham crypto schemes. Many are subjected to torture and degrading treatment for failing to meet targets. Some are allowed to leave only after paying a hefty fee, or by recruiting others in their place.

The United Nations estimates at least 120,000 people are being forced into work for such schemes in Myanmar alone. As UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Khaled Khiari warned, ‘what began as a regional crime threat in South-East Asia is now a rampant human trafficking and illicit trade crisis with global implications’.

Since the 2021 coup Myanmar has descended into ever-greater violence, displacing an estimated three million people. Like the narcotics trade, the cyberscam industry thrives amid insecurity, corruption and lawlessness.

Following a Beijing-led crackdown on cybercrime near its border with Myanmar, China’s Ministry of Public Security announced in March that a staggering 48,000 people had been arrested for involvement in fraud operations over the past year – many handed over by the junta in Myanmar. As a result, the sector has largely decamped to Karen State on the Thai border, where there has been heavy fighting between resistance forces, the junta and its allies.

In February the US blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis released findings on a ‘prolific pig butchering gang’ believed to be operating cyberscams out of a facility in territory controlled by the Karen Border Guard Force, a proxy ally of the Myanmar military. Demanding ransoms for the release of trafficked workers, the operation was linked to two main wallets which had received an estimated $100 million in crypto inflows.

Globally, the sector’s value is estimated into the billions of dollars, with profits rivalling the GDP of some Asian countries, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Last year, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism implicated UK shell companies in cyberscam schemes, leading to UK sanctions on nine individuals and five entities for involvement in trafficking ‘scam farms’ in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Bigombe says the international community needs to take this crisis seriously. ‘The message I have for the world is that modern slavery is real,’ she told Uganda’s Monitor. ‘The world requires concerted effort through the UN and other agencies to tackle it.’

Kayleigh Long