Asian Dispatch | ‘I Scammed So I Could Live’: Inside the Story of South Asians Trafficked and Enslaved in Asia’s Booming Scam Compounds

“We’re in a modern society where we’re traveling all over the world for jobs,” Mechelle Moore, the CEO of an anti-trafficking NGO called Global Alms, told Asian Dispatch. “People aren’t getting jobs in their home countries and [the scam companies] take advantage of that desire to work overseas.”

Moore estimates at least 10,000 trafficking victims stuck in scam compounds that could run up to hundreds if not thousands across Southeast Asia.

“A lot of [these scam] companies lure people who can speak English well, and the jobs advertised for are for logistics, customer service, marketing and so on,” said Moore. “They would specifically target people from South Asian countries that did not have an embassy where they’re operating out of.”

We’re in a modern society where we’re traveling all over the world for jobs. People aren’t getting jobs in their home countries and [the scam companies] take advantage of that desire to work overseas. – Mechelle Moore, CEO, Global Alms

The pandemic provided a big advantage, if not the catalyst, to the criminal network. Civil strife and socio-economic struggles in the host countries add more layers to this complex web of transnational crime.

NGOs like Moore’s have been tracking constructions of new compounds across Asia every year. “They’ve got enough people willing to complete the scams. If the survivors of trafficking don’t want to stay or cause trouble, they’re recycled,” she said. “It’s definitely not dying down.”

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