UN report exposes torture, rape in Southeast Asia’s multi-billion-dollar scam centres

A sprawling online scam industry worth an estimated tens of billions of dollars a year is being powered by trafficked workers subjected to torture, sexual abuse and forced labour inside heavily guarded compounds in Southeast Asia, a new UN human rights report has found.

Behind the staggering profits lies what the report calls a “litany of abuse” affecting hundreds of thousands of people from at least 66 countries. Many were lured abroad by promises of legitimate jobs, only to find themselves detained, beaten and forced to commit online fraud.

“The treatment endured by individuals within the context of scam operations is alarming,” the report states.

The report, titled A wicked problem, is based on in-depth, trauma-sensitive interviews with victims trafficked and forced to work at scam centres, and information from a range of sources – including confidential ones. It was published on Friday in Geneva by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).