THE trafficking of workers into online scam operations has become one of the fastest-growing forms of human trafficking worldwide, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned.
The United Nations migration agency said criminal networks running online fraud centres are increasingly targeting vulnerable individuals, forcing them to participate in sophisticated scams that generate billions of dollars in illicit profits.
IOM Director General Amy Pope said scam centres operating across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, were employing as many as 300,000 workers to conduct online fraud schemes targeting victims around the world.
AlJazeera reported her saying that the operations used sophisticated online scams to defraud mainly older individuals in Western countries, while increasingly relying on deceptive recruitment tactics to lure educated jobseekers into forced labour.
“These criminal networks increasingly target educated jobseekers through advertisements on social media,” Pope told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
She said traffickers had successfully recruited individuals with strong English-language skills and university qualifications by offering fraudulent employment opportunities promising attractive salaries and career prospects.
However, upon arrival at scam compounds, many victims had their passports confiscated, faced physical and psychological abuse and were prevented from leaving the “highly organised” and “highly profitable” operations.
Pope cited recent estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which found that global losses from online scam operations reached between US$88 billion and US$114 billion last year.
Speaking ahead of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on Thursday, Pope said IOM had assisted more than 3,500 survivors from 33 countries, many of whom returned home deeply traumatised, in debt and with limited resources after months or years of exploitation.
She warned that survivors were frequently misidentified as criminals rather than recognised as victims of trafficking, calling for stronger international cooperation, improved prevention measures and greater public awareness to combat deceptive recruitment practices.
The IOM said it “calls for continued support to assist victims of trafficking through protection, safe return and reintegration, while scaling up efforts to raise awareness of traffickers’ tactics so that people can recognise risks and know where to seek help”.
“People trapped in scam compounds are victims of trafficking, forced to commit crimes through violence, threats and coercion,” Pope said.
“We must work together to support survivors, stop traffickers and close the gaps these criminal networks exploit.” - July 29, 2026
