UN Warns Human Trafficking Fuels Online Scams

A desk in a scam centre lies empty after being raided by the authorities in the Philippines.

A job advertisement can hide a criminal network, and a single click can lead to a nightmare. Hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked each year with promises of legitimate jobs abroad, only to be held captive and forced to participate in online scam operations.

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) issued an alert on Tuesday over the rapidly expanding, multibillion-dollar criminal industry that turns job seekers into forced cybercriminals.

International enterprise

“We’re seeing victims from more than 80 countries being trafficked into scam centres, which are primarily operating across Asia,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope while briefing journalists in Geneva.

UN News' Dan Dickinson travelled to the region two years ago and produced a series of reports on scam compounds, facilitated by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Recruiters target people with strong English-language skills who often hold university degrees, advertising what appear to be legitimate job opportunities on social media.

Once victims arrive, they are confined inside heavily guarded compounds, stripped of their passports and mobile phones, and kept under constant surveillance.

Many are beaten or threatened and forced through violence and debt bondage to operate online scams targeting people around the world.

“They’re often subjected to physical or psychological abuse. They are often unable to leave,” Pope said.

'Too good to be true'

The warning signs are often visible for those who know what to look for, she said.

“What often appears to be an ideal job opportunity is simply too good to be true.”

One major red flag identified by IOM is travelling on a tourist visa instead of a work permit — something every job seeker should verify before leaving home.

IOM stressed that people forced to operate scams inside these compounds are victims of human trafficking, not criminals, and should be protected rather than prosecuted.

“We’re seeing many trafficking survivors being identified as criminals, but in reality, they are the victims of this crime,” Pope said.

Although the scam centres are based mainly in Asia, traffickers recruit victims globally through social media.

Between 2022 and 2025, IOM assisted more than 3,500 victims of forced criminality in Southeast Asia from 39 countries, including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya and Bangladesh.

Staggering losses

Rescue is only the beginning of recovery. Many survivors return home traumatised and burdened by stigma, debt, missing documents and fears of prosecution.

The financial scale of the crime is enormous.

According to new data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), scam operations across East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand caused losses of between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion in 2025, far exceeding the resources devoted to combating human trafficking.

“Unless we take this issue very seriously, we anticipate it will continue to grow,” Pope warned.

IOM called for greater investment in victim protection, safe return and reintegration programmes, along with stronger public awareness campaigns to expose traffickers' recruitment tactics.