Rescued from virtual slavery in Myanmar’s online scam centres
Bangkok, Feb 13: Some 260 people, including some Indians, believed to have been trafficked and trapped into working in online scam centres are to be repatriated after they were rescued from Myanmar, Thailand’s army announced Thursday.
In a fresh crackdown on scam centres operating from Southeast Asia, the Thai army announced Thursday it is coordinating an effort to repatriate some 260 people believed to have been victims of human trafficking after they were rescued and sent from Myanmar to Thailand.
Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, which share borders with Thailand, have come to be known as havens for criminal syndicates who are estimated to have forced hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia and elsewhere into helping run online scams including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.
Such scams have extracted tens of billions of dollars from victims around the world, according to UN experts. (AP)