Cyberscam Survivors Abandoned in Southeast Asia, Creating International Crisis
Charities and aid organizations are issuing urgent calls for international government intervention to support victims of Southeast Asia's brutal cyberscam compounds, following a damning January report from Amnesty International. The research reveals that survivors of these scam "farms" are increasingly left destitute and abandoned on city streets across Cambodia and Myanmar, describing the situation as an "international crisis."
Mounting Humanitarian Emergency
Aid workers report that insufficient humanitarian organizations are stepping forward to assist survivors, despite growing numbers of foreigners sleeping rough and struggling to find food. Hundreds of thousands of individuals from over fifty countries are estimated to be trapped inside massive compounds throughout Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Most are lured to the region with promises of lucrative employment, only to be trafficked across borders and forced by criminal gangs into defrauding unsuspecting victims through online scams. Refusal risks torture, sexual assault, or even execution.
Amnesty's research specifically identifies a rising number of traumatized individuals stranded in Cambodia—homeless, penniless, and without passports—as "an international crisis on Cambodian soil." Montse Ferrer, the group's regional research director, stated, "We don't see the Cambodian state offering victim screening for these individuals or other support that you'd expect in a situation like this: a humanitarian crisis. NGO support is insufficient, especially in the wake of widespread aid funding cuts over the past year."
Inadequate Support Systems
In Cambodia, many escapees are sleeping on streets, while in Myanmar, those rescued by authorities are detained in car parks, military camps, or detention centers for weeks during processing, according to Amy Miller, Southeast Asia director of aid agency Acts of Mercy. Over the past year, Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar's military junta have initiated crackdowns on these operations, which became permanent fixtures along borders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 7,000 people were rescued in a Myanmar operation last February, with an additional 2,000 in October. However, Andrey Sawchenko, International Justice Mission's vice-president for programme impact in Asia-Pacific, emphasized that if further operations proceed, support must be available for thousands of survivors who may have significant physical and mental health needs.
Personal Testimonies of Trauma
Felix, a 31-year-old Ethiopian, endured eighteen months trapped in two different Myanmar compounds before his captors released him when chronic kidney problems—triggered by eighteen-hour computer shifts—made him a liability. Describing conditions with no medical care and frequent violence as "like hell," Felix recalled, "They punch you, they kick you, everything."
Some victims escape by hiding in dense jungle, risking capture and death, while others pay ransoms for release. An increasing number are rescued by local NGOs like Thailand-based Immanuel Foundation and governments. Local authorities or charities then collaborate with embassies to begin repatriation processes, but during waiting periods, finding food or shelter proves extremely difficult.
Systemic Barriers to Assistance
IJM provided Felix with food money during his two-month wait in Bangkok before repatriation. "They were even taking me to different medical facilities to try to treat my kidney," he said, though he later required its removal. Smaller aid groups and local shelters are overwhelmed and underfunded, Miller noted, while large organizations like the Red Cross remain unengaged. "There is very little humanitarian assistance across the board for this issue," she stated.
Agencies face challenges from widespread funding cuts and access problems in Cambodia and Myanmar, where strict rules govern international group operations. "It would be great if there were more humanitarian aid organisations, NGOs, civil society organisations operating," Ferrer remarked.
Victim Stigmatization Complicates Aid
Further barriers exist because survivors' involvement in cybercrime makes them less appealing beneficiaries. "There is a major bias that's happening across the sector in general; that most do not see them as victims of human trafficking," Miller explained. While Thailand has what Ferrer calls a more robust victim screening process compared to Cambodia, both countries have arrested victims. Miller described this as "a blind spot in the humanitarian resource category."
In Cambodia, Ling Li of the EOS Collective, which supports scam industry survivors, noted that the UN International Organization for Migration couldn't provide victims accommodation because doing so without a valid visa is illegal. Victims smuggled across borders rarely possess proper paperwork. "This raises a serious and painful question. If international institutions who have victim protection in their mandate cannot provide protection, emergency assistance, or even a safe space for trafficking survivors, what is their role on the ground?" Li questioned.
Calls for Government Action
Without adequate help, victims might return to scam farms where they at least had shelter. "The potential to be caught back up in this form of trafficking or any other kind of exploitation in their home countries or wherever they are is high," Miller warned.
Tomoya Obokata, UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, believes governments should provide safe houses, medical, and psychological support before victims travel home. Miller highlighted that the sheer volume of escapees is overwhelming, calling for cross-government cooperation and treating people as victims until proven otherwise. Obokata suggested governments confiscate scam proceeds to fund frontline groups. "There's no excuse for governments to say they do not have any resources," he asserted.
