Nearly 260 Workers Freed from Myanmar Scam Compounds Identified as Trafficking Victims in Thailand

IJM praises collaboration between Thai authorities and non-profit organization partners.

BANGKOK, THAILAND, February 19, 2025 – Last week, 260 people from 19 different countries working in industrial-scale, online scamming operations based in Myawaddy, Myanmar were released by an ethnic armed militia group and handed over to Thai authorities across the border in Mae Sot, Thailand. These scamming complexes are notorious for trafficking victims into horrific working conditions involving constant surveillance, threats of physical punishment, and beatings. Over the weekend, Thai officials identified 258 of the freed individuals as human trafficking victims under Thailand’s National Referral Mechanism for protecting victims of trafficking.

In coordination with local non-profit organizations and Thai authorities on the ground, IJM Thailand rapidly mobilized a team on Saturday morning to respond by assisting victim identification and response efforts at the border. IJM staff are providing translation services, assisting survivors, and working with local officials to support the Thai government Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDT) tasked with identifying victims of trafficking. “The hope is that strengthened government victim identification in forced scamming cases will lead to better protection for migrant workers overall," says an IJM casework staff who assisted the MDTs during the victim identification process.

“This is the beginning of one of the largest releases of victims from the scam compounds in Myanmar, with hundreds or thousands expected to be freed in the coming weeks. We’re grateful for the Thai government and the non-profit organizations we partner with, who have been working tirelessly to support survivors of forced labor in online scam operations,” said Andrew Wasuwongse, Country Director of International Justice Mission (IJM) Thailand.

“We also commend the Thai government's decisive action by focusing attention on the scam compounds, including cutting off the supply of Thai-side electricity and internet to the compounds in Myanmar. We urge the Thai government to maintain the electricity and internet cuts and expand enforcement to include likely illegal internet connections, including the use of internet signal repeaters. These actions will strengthen Thailand’s commitment to cracking down on the criminal scam syndicates that have been operating with impunity for too long,” he added.

The majority of the identified victims of trafficking were from countries across Asia and Africa, including the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, China, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Taiwan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and as far away as Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Brazil.

Since 2022, IJM’s team in Thailand has supported survivors trafficked into forced scamming. Often working together with other NGOs, IJM staff have supported the government’s comprehensive victim identification process at the border or in Bangkok. Many people who have been trafficked face significant uncertainty as they await formal recognition as trafficking victims.

Gavesh*, a survivor of forced scamming who was trafficked to Myanmar, released, assisted by IJM, and repatriated back to Sri Lanka in 2023, expressed relief to IJM upon hearing the news: “I’m glad that more people are coming out of the compounds. I know they went through horrific experiences. I hope that even more victims will be freed and safely returned to their home countries.”

Over the past few years, thousands of people from more than 60 countries around the world have fallen victim to traffickers, lured to scam centers with promises of high salaries advertised as white-collar jobs located in Bangkok or elsewhere in the region. In most cases, criminal scam syndicates deceived individuals into traveling to Thailand for seemingly legitimate jobs, only to be trafficked across the border into Myanmar, and forced to work in exploitative working conditions.

IJM’s offices in Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia (through a local partner) are working with government agencies and embassies to facilitate the rescue, repatriation and care of survivors, as well as investigation by law enforcement partners into the cross-border human trafficking networks involved. Since 2021, IJM has assisted close to 500 individuals determined to be victims of forced scamming in Southeast Asia. IJM also supports the government’s criminal justice system response, which has led to the convictions of 15 perpetrators involved in forced scamming to date, including one trafficker in Thailand sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.

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About International Justice Mission
International Justice Mission partners with local authorities in 33 program offices in 19 countries to combat slavery, violence against women and children and police abuse of power. IJM’s mission is to protect people in poverty from violence by rescuing victims, bringing criminals to justice, restoring survivors to safety and strength, and helping local law enforcement build a safe future that lasts. Learn more at: IJM.org.