Not enough support for freed victims, say aid agencies, with growing numbers sleeping on the streets, unable to travel home without passports or money
Charities and aid workers have called for urgent international government support for victims of south-east Asia’s deadly scam compounds, following a damning report by Amnesty International.
The numbers of survivors of cyberscam “farms” left destitute and abandoned on the city streets of Cambodia and Myanmar is an “international crisis”, according to the research published in January.
Aid workers say not enough humanitarian organisations are stepping up to support survivors of the scam farms, despite the mounting number of foreigners sleeping on the streets and in need of food.
Hundreds of thousands of people from more than 50 countries are estimated to be trapped inside vast compounds in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines and Malaysia. Most are enticed to the region by the promise of a well-paying job but are instead trafficked across borders and forced by criminal gangs into catfishing unsuspecting victims out of money. To refuse is to risk torture, sexual assault, or even death.
