"Fearing for their lives"

How cyber slaves are forced to commit fraud

Hundreds of thousands of people are forced to commit online fraud, particularly in Myanmar and Cambodia.(Bild: stock.adobe.com/africa-studio.com (Olga Yastremska and Leonid Yastremskiy))

It is still a comparatively young and largely unknown crime: Cyber slavery. The term describes the criminal practice of gangs, primarily from Southeast Asia, of forcing people to commit online fraud through torture and abuse in order to scam money. Some of the victims who have managed to escape from prison report traumatic experiences.

From illegal gambling to love scams and crypto fraud, the United Nations estimates that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and a further 100,000 in Cambodia are currently being held for running lucrative online scams. Other countries, including Laos, the Philippines and Thailand, are also considered main destination or transit countries.

Many of the "workers", who mostly come from Southeast Asia, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but some also come from Africa and Latin America, are said to be victims of abuse such as torture, arbitrary detention, sexual violence and forced labor. Experts refer to this as "forced scamming".