They were promised tech jobs. Instead, they were trafficked and forced to scam. This is the story of the movement to bring them home.
Allan* believed he was about to change his family’s life.
He finally got a well-paying job after earning two university degrees and knew this would help secure a better future for his wife and two children in Uganda. He got the call from a recruiter offering him what sounded like a dream job in Southeast Asia: working in what was described as a tech-related position with Amazon. He didn’t hesitate—he said, “Yes,” right away. He planned to leave for a year or two, send money home, and return with enough savings to build a future.
Instead, he disappeared.
The warning signs came too late. After long hours of travel and multiple car rides in the middle of the night, it was only when he boarded the small boat from Thailand heading to Myanmar that the dread set in.
“Halfway across the river, I looked at the men in front of me, then behind. All of them had guns,” Allan remembered. “That’s when I knew: my life was over.”
On the boat, he hid his phone and began texting GPS coordinates to his wife every few seconds with a string of numbers. He told her to keep them and not delete them. Then, silence. That was the last she heard of him.
What followed was months inside a scam compound on the Thai-Myanmar border. The traffickers took Allan’s phone and papers away. They forced him into digital fraud, seated shoulder to shoulder with thousands of others in a dingy warehouse under the eyes of armed guards. In front of a computer for more than 12 hours a day, they told him to message and scam people online to try to get money from their bank accounts. If he took his hands off his computer or hesitated, even for a second, they beat him. When he resisted, he was tortured—once hung from a ceiling pipe and lashed on his back.
After months of this torture, Allan stopped eating and spent days praying and begging God to bring him home.
“They won’t kill you, they want to use you. They’ll beat you just enough and feed you just enough. They don’t want you dead, they want to use you.”
These scam compounds are nothing new. Criminal enterprises and armed syndicates are trafficking hundreds of thousands of people, mostly from Africa and Asia, into "scam centers" in countries like Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines. These centers and agents carry out these online scams by labor and sex trafficking victims.
Despite recent crackdowns driven by high-profile rescues, including 7,000 victims freed in Myanmar, the compounds still exist and are thriving. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are currently trapped in these compounds, though the true numbers may be far higher.1 These individuals, many educated, tech-savvy, and tricked with promises of lucrative jobs, have been lured into scam compounds with no escape.
Upon arrival, victims like Allan quickly learn that their "tech roles" are sham positions designed to entrap them in a relentless cycle of cybercrime: romance fraud, fake investment schemes, illegal gambling, and money laundering, often targeting elderly people. Trapped in a large warehouse, they are forced to sit in front of computers with others, with little to no breaks.
If victims in the compounds refuse to comply, they are met with beatings and torture. Victims have their freedom stolen while being forced into labor trafficking— working 12‑ to 16‑hour shifts with no hope of escape as their passports and documents are confiscated.
“Your mind is just going crazy,” one survivor said. “[The guards] would give me a phone, computer, and tablet to use at the same time to respond to different people you’re trying to scam. You start with 30 people to message in the first week, and then they keep adding more every week. By the end of the month, you’re messaging and scamming 120 people. Your fingers are flying, you’re looking over your shoulder, and there are people going up and down the rows beating you if you stop.”
But online scams aren’t the only crimes happening in these compounds. Victims are subject to sex trafficking and sexual exploitation as well. Many women are forced to live stream sex acts online, with many of their rapes resulting in pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases.
“These scam compounds are conducting more than sending phishy text messages,” said John Richmond, Atlas Free’s Chief Impact Officer, Former U.S. Ambassador to Combat Trafficking. “Although many call them ‘scam centers,’ these criminal organizations also engage in sex trafficking, online sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, and other crimes. ”
These trafficking operations generate millions annually, yet remain largely invisible, thriving in lawless zones. People are trapped in strategically placed, isolated warehouses along borders with no rule of law, no phones, and no one to turn to for help. These syndicates exploit legal vacuums and geopolitical instability, especially in Myanmar, where military rule and weak governance have carved out a sanctuary for crime syndicates and armed groups on the Thai–Myanmar border.
In recent months, as more news emerged about these scam compounds and the human trafficking involved, Atlas Free convened 30 Network Members across Asia and Africa on a conference call to connect, learn from one another, and strategize on an emergency response.
Shortly after that call, news broke of a scam compound raid in Myanmar. Thousands were set free from the warehouses and moved to an army camp in Thailand, including 51 survivors from Uganda. While some governments could swiftly respond and bring their citizens home, others, like Uganda, faced significant resource limitations that made immediate action nearly impossible, leaving these 51 survivors stranded in the army camp with inhumane conditions.
In response, two local organizations in the Atlas Free Network, Hope’s Cry and EverFree, jumped into action, along with many organizations in Myanmar and Thailand. Atlas Free helped fund and coordinate the emergency repatriation of 51 Ugandan survivors, ensuring their safe return home, reunification with families, and aftercare with EverFree to aid in their healing journey.
Many of the victims came home pregnant from rape, had sexually transmitted diseases, and were in poor physical condition because of the beatings, burns, and violence. But today, these survivors are home with loved ones and receiving trauma-informed therapy and medical care to aid in their physical and emotional recovery.
“In this case, Atlas Free was able to follow the momentum of Network Members, Hope’s Cry and EverFree, in coordinating a safe return for these 51 trafficking survivors,” said John Richmond. “This repatriation is a great example of the power of the Network. Leveraging each organization’s specialty, passion, and contacts, a Network can accomplish more than any organization can do on its own.”
Even while trapped, Allan didn’t lose hope. He kept praying until one day, a rare raid by authorities cracked open the gates of the compound.
With Atlas Free’s cross-organizational effort, Allan, one of the 51 Ugandans, was set free from the abuse and brought home.
When Allan landed at the airport in Uganda, an Atlas Free Network Member was there to greet him. She drove him straight home to reunite him with his wife and children. Today, he is safe.
Many of the 51 trafficking survivors have expressed that they want to make sure nobody else gets trapped like this. They want their story to be shared so others can be aware.
Human trafficking takes many shapes. It’s not confined to one place, industry, or type of victim. It can look like compounds forcing educated adults into online scams, but can also look like children being sold for sex or women forced to do online sex acts. All human trafficking is tied together with one common thread: the abuse of people for profit.
While the issue is daunting, this rescue shows the power of a global movement working together. That’s the impact of the Atlas Free Network: frontline organizations, brave survivors, and advocates united by the belief that every person deserves to be free.
Donate now to make more strategic emergency responses in the fight against trafficking possible.
*Name changed to protect the identity of the survivor.
