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Forced Criminality
"Forced Scamming is one of the most complex types of modern slavery and one of the largest coordinated trafficking in persons operations in history."
- Mechelle B Moore, CEO of Global Alms Incorporated
What is the reality of trafficking in persons for forced criminality?
Forced Criminality is defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as:
"Traffickers who force or compel their victims to engage in illegal conduct use the situation of forced criminality to maintain control over their victims, by threatening victims with the potential punishment for the criminal conduct in which they are asked to engage."
Job scams have been an issue since the birth of the digital age. Globally we rely on digital communication to support economies and connect us as individuals, increasing the risks we are prepared to take with our personal information to find connection.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in crime syndicate owned and controlled companies operating within Southeast Asia and Myanmar (Burma). Crime syndicates lure unsuspecting men, women, and children into exploitation through sophisticated job scams. These individuals are trafficked into secured compounds where they're forced to engage in cyber crime activities to survive.
Forced Scamming
Trapped in secure compounds.
Victims are trafficked into secure compounds within Myanmar along the Thailand-Myanmar border with no way to escape. They are watched by armed security and their movements monitored 24/7 by CCTV.
Physically tortured, Sexually Assaulted & brutalized.
Victims are punished if they refuse to work, until they comply. They are sexually assaulted and brutalised to keep them compliant and their torture used as a warning to others. All have scars, some visible and some hidden, that they will carry with them forever.
Forced to work 20hr days, 7 days p/wk.
Victims are forced to work 16-20 hours per day and often 6-7 days each week. They are locked into offices with rows and rows of computers forced to participate in illegal activities, including cyber scamming.
Passports confiscated & phones strictly monitored.
Victims have their passports confiscated usually under false pretences. All phone activity is strictly monitored with random checks are conducted daily. Victims are forced to use company phones and can only access their personal phones in their rooms.
Human trafficking victims tortured into scamming innocent people | 60 Minutes Australia
