Southeast Asia has witnessed explosive growth in online scamming operations, and the deceptive and coercive recruitment and employment of workers into them, over the past 5 years. This pattern of trafficking in persons is closely tied into criminal networks within and beyond the region and has flourished in areas with weak governance and patchy rule of law.
Online scamming operations grew out of a convergence of several factors which created a ‘perfect storm’ for profit-motivated criminal networks. First, the Covid pandemic cut the client base of casinos that had proliferated in the region, particularly in Special Economic Zones, which resulted in a large cohort of educated jobseekers with limited options for work. Second, scam centres emerged at a time when technology and social media allowed for large scale outreach, complemented by a scamming playbook and cryptocurrency platforms to maximise monetisation of the scams. And third, scam centres relied on the integration of opportunistic criminals with elites in the region, creating safe zones of impunity for their operations. These factors combined have created a strong enabling environment for industrial-scale scamming compounds.
Recognition of the global scale of the crisis is starting to translate to responses. Pressure from external powers is mounting and resources are being mobilised to address the related harms. Sanctions and indictments from influential authorities against individuals identified as key facilitators of the crimes has started to have a snowballing effect. As citizens around the world are being deceived out of their lifesavings at a scale never before possible, the nature of the scamming has raised the alarm globally. Research and advocacy from a small number of actors has helped to highlight that there are a second set of victims behind the scams – the overwhelming majority of whom have not been identified as victims, and a significant number of whom have been arrested and punished for offences related to their trafficking experience.
Subsequent changes on the ground have started to have an impact – compounds have been cleared out, some of the companies connected with the movement of funds have been dismantled, and some key figures have been arrested and extradited. Many of those forced to work in compounds have been released, and consular responses has seen some of those returned home. Yet, how impactful those changes are towards reduced prevalence of trafficking and online scamming is still to be determined. The lucrative nature of the crime and the influence of the beneficiaries, the power and vested interests involved, are not simple to overcome.
This year’s World Day Against Trafficking provides an opportune moment to pause and reflect on what has been done to address this issue to date, what has worked and what needs to be reworked.
We have seen the important role of civil society and the media in complementing government responses. Despite the many barriers to such approaches to date, whole-of-society approaches are crucial. Bringing the relevant government agencies that seek justice, rule-of-law and the protection of their citizens against these crimes, together with civil society actors and the private sector stakeholders that can either be a part of the problem or part of the solution, can together build the evidence base and coordinate responses in the region, and globally.
We have a growing understanding of how the criminal networks have operated, and while this has continued to evolve, collaboration with the experts in mapping their operations, the money laundering that facilitates it, and getting this intelligence to law enforcement for coordinated responses, is key. Cryptocurrencies have been seen as a tool for the criminals involved to remain anonymous and conceal their assets, however the flaws in this approach have been increasingly exposed. Tracing and freezing these and other assets from the suspected activities has shown the path to targeting the criminals where it will defeat the purpose of the crimes in the first place.
This coalition of actors should be resourced to map the trends that have allowed this destructive cycle, proactively and on a real-time basis, to get ahead of the scamming operations and the criminal networks. This is needed in both the virtual and physical environments, as the scams continue to evolve, and the geographies in which they are conducted continue to expand and morph.
The opportunity now exists to convene the officials, activists, researchers, journalists, community members, concerned business leaders, experts and observers, working to combat the related crimes. It is one in which the development community, private sector and incentivised multilateral community should step up to engage. The alternative will be many more victims of both human trafficking and online scamming, and criminality in Southeast Asia becoming increasingly sophisticated and entrenched.
Learn more from our partner in Thailand Prosecutor Rinrawin Srisiripong, a Public Prosecutor with Thailand’s Department of Trafficking in Persons Litigation, Office of the Attorney General.
Learn from our partner in the Philippines Attorney Kristina Escosia, Chief of the AIRTIP Programs Monitoring, Coordination and Technical Support Services Division of the Migrant Workers Protection Bureau at the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers (DMW),
