Summary:

• Cyber slavery is a growing forced labor issue in Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
• Victims, often young people from Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Philippines with basic English and digital skills, are lured by fake job offers in tech or customer service, promising high salaries abroad.
• Instead, they are trafficked into scam centers where they work long hours under armed guard, forced to run online scams such as crypto romance frauds and investment scams targeting global victims.
• Conditions are brutal: victims face torture, physical abuse, amputation, and psychological trauma. Escape is rare and difficult due to militarized compounds in remote, lawless border areas with corrupt officials and armed groups.
• Cyber slavery fuels a multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise, severely impacting regional economies (up to 40% of GDP in some countries).
• Law enforcement struggles due to jurisdictional challenges, use of foreign servers, and the technical consent of workers under duress.
• Survivors often become advocates for others trapped in these cyber slavery rings after rescue.

Archive: https://archive.is/vgTa6