Thousands of trafficked Southeast Asians rescued from online scam operation

The Philippine National Police and its anti-cybercrime group on Tuesday raided seven buildings in Las Piñas city. Workers were lured from 18 countries—almost half of the 2,700 workers rescued were from other countries in Southeast Asia—with Facebook ads promising good wages and living conditions, police said. When they arrived, the workers found the promises were false, and they were forced to operate fraudulent online games and other scams, police said. It was unclear from the police how many suspected leaders were arrested.

Is human trafficking for cybercrime a problem in Asia? Cybercrime is a growing issue in Southeast Asia, especially in countries like Myanmar and Cambodia. In early May, Philippine police raided an alleged cybercrime operation north of Manila and rescued over one thousand workers who were forced to partake in cryptocurrency scams.

Dig deeper: Listen to Amy Lewis’ report on The World and Everything in It podcast about the Cambodian cyber scam industry.