Fisher, a 27-year-old Ethiopian, spent eight months in a scam compound where he was bound, beaten, and given electric shocks that made his body convulse. What was his crime? Not being good at scamming.
In mid February, he was rescued from his horror. Fisher is one of the lucky ones who made it to Thailand in a recent multinational crackdown on online scam centers along the Myanmar-Thailand border. But for 7,000 other recently released scam slaves, the nightmare continues as they remain stranded in horrible conditions in Myanmar.
Stuck In Limbo – He Does Not Want To Go Home
Even though Fisher has been saved, he is now stuck in limbo, caught between two worlds. “Please, I don’t want to return to my homeland,” he said. “But I don’t want to go back to the place where they tortured me.”
Fisher’s plight is similar to many other rescuees, some of whom are coming to grips that the riches they hoped to gain to improve their lives is a lost cause.
The Rescue Operation Spawns New Crisis
A coordinated crackdown among Thailand, Myanmar, and China has led to the unprecedented release of thousands of workers from notorious online scam compounds.
The crackdown was triggered by the January kidnapping of Wang Xing, a Chinese actor who was trafficked to work in a fraud center. Even though he was rescued and released, his capture sent shockwaves throughout China and caused tourism to plummet.
The rescue operation has created a new humanitarian emergency that some describe as potentially catastrophic. Thousands of former scam center workers are now housed in overcrowded temporary camps in Myawaddy, a border town in Myanmar.
“We’re looking at a humanitarian crisis, with people running out of food, diseases breaking out,” said Amy Miller, Southeast Asia director of Acts of Mercy International. “In one place, there are two toilets for 400 people,” she told The New York Times.
From One Hell To Another
The conditions in the makeshift facilities where freed scam slaves are housed are abysmal. Hundreds of men lay on the ground with little food or amenities.
“It’s really no good,” an 18-year-old Malaysian man told South China Morning Post, adding that the toilets and showers were so dirty they were unusable. “I hope I can contact my parents quickly so I can go.”
Getting help is almost impossible. Many of the scam workers had their passports confiscated by scam centre bosses, and some said their mobile phones were taken away.
And the logistical challenges of getting the victims back to their home countries have overwhelmed the resources. Over half of the 7,000 waiting are Chinese, with the rest from at least 27 other countries, including Zimbabwe, Liberia, Malawi, and Ethiopia.
Many Don’t Want To Be Saved And Deported
To complicate the matter even further? Not everyone in the makeshift scam refugee camps are victims. In fact, officials believe many came voluntarily looking for high paying jobs.
Thai officials have claimed that a majority of workers go to these centers intentionally. Victims released from smaller compounds claim that Shwe Kokko — one of the area’s biggest scam hubs — draws more people who willingly go there to commit fraud, according to the South China Morning Post.
Telegram HR groups where would be workers post ads seeking work are plentiful on the messaging app. In one ad a woman seeks work as a “AI or Call Center Model”
From Victims to Suspects
For many that are freed from scam compounds they face an enormous delemma. They are being treated as scammers and not as victims.
China has treated all returning detainees as suspects, with state TV showing them marched off planes in handcuffs by police upon their return home.
A Telegram post depicts the scene with a warning “It is not so easy to get home safely with a free ticket. When you return home you will still be charged!”
A Chinese man who was interviewed denied allegations that the scam center workers had traveled to Myanmar intentionally. “If I did it voluntarily, I would take all legal responsibilities,” he told the South China Morning Post.
The Big Shift – Bosses Are Keeping Things Running
Perhaps most troubling is evidence that the crackdown has done little to deter the criminal networks behind these operations. Even as rescue planes headed northward, construction workers in these scam centers continued to work through the night.
“Even as the planes headed north, construction workers in these scam centers — modern tower blocks within sight of the Thai side of the frontier — continued to weld and hammer into the night, brazenly building new warehouses dedicated to crime,” reported Hannah Beech for The New York Times.
And on Telegram, ads to replace the scam workers is more active than ever. As scam workers are being deported – they are simply getting replaced by other workers that are lured in.
Even as Thai Police crackdown on the big compounds, the bosses simply move workers to new smaller compounds that are under the radar.
As Thai police set up checkpoints near the border with Myanmar, one trafficker revealed that a group of Chinese scammers was simply moved from one large cybercrime compound to a smaller one, via Thailand. The scammers, the trafficker said, splashed across the river, which is low because it is the dry season.
Recruited Workers Still Coming In Droves
It’s gotten so bad that a brochure is posted in the airport warns tourist to avoid becoming workers in the centers.
While airport workers interview tourist for their plans in the country, they are finding that many don’t have clear plans and simply disappear.
In this warning 105 interviewed travelers have suspiciously disappeared and are assummed to have found their way into scam centers.
Other post on local media, warn that Chinese Citizens are still making their way into neighboring countries.
“The number of illegal immigrants into Loas and Cambodia is increasing. Most of them are Chinese. They work for online fraud gangs and will eventually be taken to areas such as Shihanoukville, Mokak or Poipet”
This is just more evidence of how difficult it is going to be to control this problem.
A Drop In The Bucket – 98% Of Workers Still Working
While the numbers of rescued scam workers seems high – over 7,000 saved, it only represents a small fraction of the estimated 300,000 workers.
That’s a little over 2%, meaning that 98% of the scam workers still have their jobs. This sobering statistic illustrates the monumental task ahead of rescuers.
For the thousands of scam workers that are living in limbo, the future is uncertain. While the scam centers will continue to thrive, their future is uncertain.
“We know we’re safe now. But it’s been eight days. So why can’t we go to Thailand now?”
For him and thousands of others, the answer to that question cannot come soon enough.
