GENEVA (20 February 2026) – A report
published today by the UN Human Rights Office graphically
details the lived experiences of some of the hundreds of
thousands of people trafficked from dozens of countries
around the world into working in entrenched scam operations
mostly in Southeast Asia, as well as far beyond.
The
report documents instances of torture and other
ill-treatment, sexual abuse and exploitation, forced
abortions, food deprivation, solitary confinement, among
other grave human rights abuses. Survivors also shared
experiences of border officials aiding scam recruiters, and
of threats and extortion by police.
Satellite imagery
and on-ground reports show that nearly three-quarters of the
scam operations are in the Mekong region, which have also
spread to some Pacific Island countries and South Asia, as
well as Gulf States, West Africa and the
Americas.
“The treatment endured by individuals
within the context of scam operations is alarming,” finds
the report, based on interviews with survivors originating
from Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South
Africa, Thailand, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe. They had been
trafficked into scam centres in Cambodia, Lao People’s
Democratic Republic, Myanmar, the Philippines and the United
Arab Emirates between 2021 and 2025. It is also based on
interviews with police and border officials, as well as
civil society and others with knowledge of such
operations.
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Victims described being lured into
scamming jobs under false pretences and then being coerced
into perpetrating online fraud ranging from impersonation
scams, online extortion, financial fraud as well as romantic
scams.
The operations described are fluid, with some
survivors sharing experiences of being held in immense
compounds resembling self-contained towns, some over 500
acres in size, made up of heavily fortified multi-storey
buildings with barbed wire-topped high walls, guarded by
armed and uniformed security personnel.
“A victim
from Sri Lanka related how those who failed to meet monthly
scamming targets were subject to immersion in water
containers (known as ’water prisons’) for hours,” said
the report, which updates a 2023 UN Human Rights
report.
“Victims also recounted being forced to
witness or even conduct grave abuse of others as a means to
ensure compliance; one Bangladeshi victim said that he was
ordered to beat other workers and a victim from Ghana
recounted being forced to watch his friend being beaten in
front of him.”
They told of people losing their
lives as they attempted to escape, including falling from
balconies and roofs in the compounds.
Failed rescue
attempts were also punished severely, the report finds. One
Vietnamese victim described how her sister was beaten,
tasered and locked in a room with no food for seven days
after her sister had tried to engineer her escape.
It
found traffickers would video call family members to watch
their loved one being abused and mistreated in order to
pressure families to pay extortionate ransoms.
While
most victims described receiving some wages, all those
interviewed by UN Human Rights experienced a range of
escalating deductions and none received the entirety of the
promised salary. A Thai victim reported that they were
ordered to meet steep scamming targets of some $9,500 per
day to avoid fines, beatings, or even being “sold” to
another compound with harsher conditions.
“The
litany of abuse is staggering and at the same time
heart-breaking,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said.
“Yet, rather than receiving protection, care and
rehabilitation as well as the pathways to justice and
redress to which they are entitled, victims too often face
disbelief, stigmatization and even further
punishment.”
“Effective responses need to be
centred in human rights law and standards. Crucially, that
means explicitly recognizing forced criminality within
anti-trafficking laws and regulations and guaranteeing the
non-punishment principle for victims of
trafficking.”
“Victims of such abuses require
coordinated timely, safe and effective rescue operations,
respect for the principle of non-refoulement, as well as
available support mechanisms to ensure torture and trauma
rehabilitation and address risks of reprisals or
re-trafficking.”
The report uniquely applies a
behavioural science and systems analysis to explore why
people continue to fall prey to fraudulent recruitment into
scam operations and to suggest rights-based and effective
prevention responses.
“There must be increased
availability and accessibility of safe labour migration
pathways and meaningful oversight of recruitment such as
verification of online job postings and flagging suspicious
recruitment patterns,” Türk said.
He called on
States and relevant stakeholders to engage trusted and
community-based actors, such as survivor-led groups, in
outreach to individuals considered at risk of trafficking
into scam operations. Awareness activities need to be
accessible, concrete and available through trusted
media.
Türk also urged States and regional bodies to
act effectively against corruption, which he said was deeply
entrenched in such lucrative scamming operations, and to
prosecute the criminal syndicates behind them. He also
recalled the importance of independent media, human rights
defenders and civil society organisations being able to
carry out their vital anti-trafficking work free from
interference.
