By 
01-05-2026 | Lola Louise-Alexandrine | Asia Team Researcher, Global Human Rights Defence.
Across Southeast Asia, hundreds of thousands of people are being trafficked and forced to work in scam centres, where they are abused and held against their will.
The “scam compound” industry in Southeast Asia remains a brutal epicenter of systemic abuse and forced labour. Located primarily in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, industrial-scale complexes house hundreds of thousands of individuals who are trafficked and forced to conduct online fraud under extreme conditions. According to a UN Human Rights report, in 2023, at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia were likely to be trapped in these centres.
Within the compounds, operations rely on a sophisticated “pig butchering” scheme involving a layered system of roles: “developers” who initiate contact, “chatters” who build romantic or financial trust over several days, and “killers” who finally convince the target to transfer large sums of money.
As highlighted in a report by the UN Human Rights Office from February 2026, for the workers, the cycle of abuse begins with deceptive recruitment. Victims are tricked by the promise of high-paying office jobs, mostly in banks or call centres, and once inside the compounds, they are held against their will and their movement is strictly confined to the facility. Workers are coerced into 15-hour shifts, seven days a week. If they fail to meet financial targets, they face severe penalties. While some are fined or denied pay, many others are subjected to extreme physical violence. In fact, media reports document workers being beaten, suffering broken bones, and being tortured with electroshock batons.
Recent efforts to weaken the industry have often resulted in illusions of shutdowns. While hundreds of workers were seen on the streets of Phnom Penh following reported closures in early 2026, investigative journalists warn that “raids” might be staged. Owners are often tipped off in advance, allowing them to move workers to hotels or other temporary locations until the political pressure subsides. Additionally, much of the physical infrastructure remains intact, with compounds reportedly filling back up once the authorities’ interventions conclude.
Despite growing international attention, these scam compounds continue to operate by trapping hundreds of thousands of people in conditions of modern slavery, where their freedom, dignity, and basic human rights are massively stripped away.
