New report details forced migrant labor in Southeast Asia-based online scams

The United Nations Human Rights Office has published a study documenting the forced participation of hundreds of thousands of migrants in Southeast Asian-based online scams.

According to a Crypto.News report, the migrants ”“ which include well-educated professionals ”“ were trafficked and forced into online criminal enterprises run by transnational crime syndicates in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines. Many of the victims interviewed by U.N. officials said they recruited under false pretenses with promises of high salaries, only to find themselves trapped and often threatened with abuse and death if they did not meet daily quotas for online financial scams the generated billions in criminal profits for their captors.

“Reports have also been received of people being chained to their desk,” said the UN study. “Reports indicate that there is limited food and drinking water and that living conditions can be cramped and unsanitary. Reports commonly describe people being subjected to torture, cruel and degrading treatment and punishments including the threat or use of violence (as well as being made to witness violence against others) most commonly beatings, humiliation, electrocution and solitary confinement, especially if they resist orders or disobey compound rules or if they do not meet expected scamming targets.”

The study added that three-quarters of the victims were estimated to be males coming from countries across Southeast Asia and as far away as Africa and South America.