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Agence France-Presse

The UN human rights agency on Friday called on governments to clamp down on scam centres, which have mushroomed in Southeast Asia and where hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into forced labour.
The agency released a report documenting torture, sexual abuse, forced abortions, food deprivation, solitary confinement and other abuses.
“The litany of abuse is staggering and at the same time heartbreaking,” UN Human Rights high commissioner Volker Turk said, calling on governments to act against corruption that was “deeply entrenched in such lucrative scamming operations, and to prosecute the criminal syndicates behind them”.
The UNHCR agency had already said in a 2023 report that hundreds of thousands of people were forced to work in the centres, that other investigations have found are responsible for billions of dollars of online fraud.

The new report said satellite imagery and on-ground reports show that nearly three-quarters of the scam operations are in the Mekong region and have spread to some Pacific Island countries, South Asia, Gulf States, West Africa and the Americas.
Based on accounts from victims, police and civil society groups, the report said forced labourers had described being held in immense compounds resembling self-contained towns, made up of heavily fortified multi-storey buildings with barbed wire-topped walls and armed guards.
The report into forced labour at scam centres in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates between 2021 and 2025, reinforced reports of the deprivation that the scam centre workers are put through.
“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.


“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.”
A Vietnamese woman told how she was starved for a week after trying to escape.
People said that police and border guards were sometimes complicit in the scam centres.
The UN said that many of the forced labourers were wrongly treated as criminals once freed.
The victims “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’, Turk said.


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A Thai soldier keeps guard outside a closed scam centre in O’Smach, Cambodia, on February 2. Photo: AP

A police officer inspects a room used for fraud operations inside a scam compound known as “My Casino” in Kampot province, Cambodia, on February 10. Photo: Reuters

More Southeast Asian human trafficking gangs use crypto to move illegal funds

Soldiers raid the KK Park online scam centre in Myawaddy township, Karen state, Myanmar, last year. Photo: AP 

People from China, Vietnam and Ethiopia, believed to have been trafficked and forced to work in scam centres, under guard after their release from the centres in Myawaddy district, Myanmar, last year. Photo: AP

A scam call centre compound in Laos seen in 2022. Photo: Nathan Paul Southern

Cambodia is in a frontline battle against transnational scam syndicates

In a November 12 raid, the Cambodian authorities rounded up thousands at an online fraud compound in Bavet City, the largest city in the southeastern province of Svay Rieng, which shares a border with Vietnam. Photo: Handout

Cambodia’s scam factory survivors find no escape in freedom

People carry their belongings onto a bus as they leave a suspected scam centre compound in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, last month. Photo: AFP

Computers inside a scam compound used for fraud operations in Kampot province, Cambodia. Photo: Reuters

A Cambodian police officer stands guard near a scam compound in Kampot province on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

A booth used to make scam calls containing scripts for scam dialogues and a fake Indonesian police uniform in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia. Photo: Reuters

Youga, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told reporters he was beaten often while inside a Cambodian scam compound. Photo: AP

A Thai soldier keeps guard outside a sized scam compound in O’Smach, Cambodia, on February 2. Photo: AP

Cambodians outraged by South Korean president’s ‘ruin you’ scam threat

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet shake hands during a summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 25, 2025. Photo: Korea Times

Police officers escort South Koreans allegedly involved in scam operations in Cambodia after they were forcibly repatriated last month. Photo: Reuters

A screengrab of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s since-deleted social media post about Cambodia. Photo: X/Jaemyung_Lee

Suspected scam boss linked to South Korean student’s brutal killing arrested in Thailand

South Korean police escort detainees at Techo International Airport in Phnom Penh on October 18, 2025, after a joint Cambodian–South Korean operation targeting scam networks linked to the trafficking of foreign nationals. Photo: EPA

South Koreans repatriated from Cambodia arrive at Incheon International Airport on October 18, 2025, following a joint Cambodian–South Korean operation targeting online scam networks. Photo: EPA

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Asia

Southeast Asia

The agency’s latest report documents torture, sexual abuse, forced abortions, food deprivation and solitary confinement in the centres


The agency’s latest report documents torture, sexual abuse, forced abortions, food deprivation and solitary confinement in the centres.


Water prisons, torture: UN urges crackdown on brutal Southeast Asia scam centres

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The agency’s latest report documents torture, sexual abuse, forced abortions, food deprivation and solitary confinement in the centres

The agency’s latest report documents torture, sexual abuse, forced abortions, food deprivation and solitary confinement in the centres