Southeast Asia’s scam compound survivors suffer in stigma and silence

For many of those rescued from Southeast Asia’s scam compounds, escape is not the end of the ordeal. They leave behind the locked gates, surveillance and violence, but often return home carrying injuries, trauma and the stigma of having been forced to scam others. Just as difficult is what comes next: trying to explain the experience to the people waiting for them. “Some of them are not able to tell their family members or their community what has happened,” said human rights advocate Andrey Sawchenko, International Justice Mission’s vice-president for programme impact in the Asia-Pacific. “So they’re also facing isolation and a lack of connection with other people around them because of their inability to connect about these experiences.” That silence reflects a deeper problem described in a recent United Nations human rights report on trafficking and abuse inside Southeast Asia’s online scam compounds: rescue does not always mean safety, recognition or support. Many survivors return home uncertain whether they will be seen as victims or blamed for the crimes they were forced to commit. More than 300,000 people from over 60 countries have been recruited into Southeast Asia’s scam operations, according to the UN. Some were deceived or trafficked and subjected to a “litany of abuse” including torture, sexual assault and forced labour. “Many were lured abroad by promises of legitimate jobs, only to find themselves detained, beaten and forced to commit online fraud,” it said in the rights report published last month. Authorities across the region have raided compounds and rescued workers amid efforts to bring traffickers to justice. The International Justice Mission alone has helped nearly 2,700 victims of forced labour and cyberscams since 2021. Hardest journey But aid workers and researchers say the real struggle often starts once survivors are freed and looking to secure legal immunity, recover from physical and psychological harm and find a way back into ordinary life. The scam compounds themselves are now grimly familiar – heavily guarded sites where workers are brought in with promises of legitimate employment, then detained and forced to run online fraud schemes targeting victims around the world. Although estimating the industry’s size was “complicated”, the UN said the region’s scam operations could generate annual global profits of US$64 billion, driven in part by the rise of digital and cryptocurrency-based finance. That scale has made the industry difficult to dismantle, even as governments have intensified enforcement and public awareness has grown. Far less understood is what happens to the survivors. Victims were recruited through what the UN described as plausible-seeming opportunities: trading jobs, sponsored work-and-study programmes, investment schemes or paid trips. The lures were not extravagant; they did not need to be. Victims were recruited through what the UN described as plausible-seeming opportunities – trading jobs, sponsored work-and-study programmes, investment schemes or paid trips. The offers often travelled through familiar and trusted channels. “Through [my] interviews … with people returned to China from scam compounds, the issue of trust does come up repeatedly,” said Peng Xu, a research fellow at the University of Manchester’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute. “In many cases, people do not respond simply to an obviously fake message from a stranger. They are approached through someone they know, someone recommended by a friend, or through what appears to be a credible job advertisement. So trust matters a great deal.” But once they had arrived, that trust gave way to coercion. The UN report described “shockingly high levels of physical and psychological violence” inside the compounds, where “brutality is seemingly the norm”. It said many victims were refused permission to leave even after fulfilling their agreed contract. To those inside, the compounds functioned as prisons, with gates locked from the outside, passports confiscated and all outside contact closely monitored. Some reported torture and sexual abuse. Others described how low-performing workers were punished in front of colleagues as a tactic to keep everyone in line. What happened inside the compounds follows survivors beyond the gates Many survivors came home bearing injuries – some visible, others not – from the abuse they had suffered, Sawchenko said. “Many of them have physical injuries and wounds from various kinds of torture that they’ve experienced while they’ve been in scam compounds,” he said, citing punishments including electrocution, physical threats and beatings. Cry for acceptance The UN has called on governments to grant survivors legal immunity and access to trauma care. In practice, many come home to a more ambivalent reception. “That ambiguity matters a great deal, because it shapes whether they receive protection, immunity or support,” Peng said. “So even where some schemes or support mechanisms do exist, the bigger issue is often inconsistent classification. If people are not clearly recognised as trafficked persons or survivors of coercion, then access to treatment and protection becomes much more limited.” This perception can affect their mental recovery. “Once they return home they may still be seen by others as a criminal, or at least as someone associated with fraud. That can be extremely difficult for reintegration,” she said. Sawchenko said survivors often had to reckon with their coerced role in the fraud, the violence they had endured and the loss of a future they had left home to find. Many find it impossible to explain the experience to those closest to them, leaving them cut off from the very people best placed to help. Peng said genuine recovery required more than the victims’ escape. Months of coercion and fear left wounds that homecoming alone could not heal. “It is also about reputation, social acceptance, and the ability to rebuild an ordinary life,” she said. “In many cases, what people need most is not just short-term rescue but a realistic path back into society.” Without mental health support, community networks and meaningful employment, survivors risked remaining exposed to the same conditions traffickers had first preyed upon, Peng warned. Sawchenko urged governments to shield survivors from criminal liability for acts they were forced to commit and to recognise them formally as victims. “We’ve seen examples of victims being prosecuted around the region. One of our top recommendations is that victims should be designated or identified as victims and then treated as such,” he said. “There’s also a need to provide victim support services, which looks different for different people – some may need a lot of support and others may need less.” Peng said prevention needed to start earlier, ideally before jobseekers boarded planes for what they believed were legitimate opportunities. “In many cases, people are not physically forced at the very beginning. They travel voluntarily because they believe they are going for legitimate work. That means there is an important intervention window,” she said. Airports and transit hubs represented an overlooked opportunity, Peng said, adding that stronger warnings, public awareness campaigns and systems to flag suspicious job offers could ensure that the journey into the scam compounds ended before it began.

Southeast Asia’s scam compound survivors suffer in stigma and silence

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Many survivors return home to inhabit a murky space between victim and offender, with few support services to help them reintegrate

Many survivors return home to inhabit a murky space between victim and offender, with few support services to help them reintegrate