Online scam centres fuelling human trafficking worldwide, warns UN agency

IOM chief says victims from more than 80 countries are lured into scam centres through fake job offers on social media.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned that trafficking people through online scam centres has become one of the world’s “fastest-growing” forms of human trafficking, with victims from more than 80 countries duped into their criminal operations.

Scam ⁠centres employing as many as 300,000 workers across South-East Asia, including in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, use online schemes to defraud often older people in the West, IOM Director General Amy Pope told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

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The criminal networks increasingly target educated jobseekers through advertisements on social media. They have successfully recruited people with strong English skills and university degrees by presenting them with fraudulent job offers.

Victims arriving at scam compounds in Asia often have their passports confiscated, face physical and psychological abuse and are prevented from leaving the “highly organised” and “highly profitable” operations, Pope said.

She cited recent UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that show annual global losses from online scam operations reached between $88bn and $114bn last year.

Speaking ahead of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on Thursday, Pope said the IOM has assisted more than 3,500 survivors from 33 countries, many of whom return home deeply traumatised, burdened by debt and with few remaining resources after months or years in captivity.

Pope also warned that survivors are often wrongly treated as criminals rather than victims, and called for stronger cross-border cooperation, prevention efforts and public awareness to disrupt trafficking networks and protect people from deceptive recruitment offers.

The IOM said it “calls for continued support to assist victims of trafficking ‌through ‌protection, safe return and reintegration, while scaling up efforts to raise awareness of traffickers’ tactics so that people can recognise risks and know where to seek help”.

“People trapped in scam compounds are victims of trafficking, forced to commit crimes through violence, threats and coercion,” ⁠said Pope, who formerly worked as a prosecutor of human trafficking ⁠cases.

“We must work together to support survivors, stop traffickers and close the gaps these criminal networks exploit.”