Asian criminal gangs force hundreds of thousands of people to commit cybercrime

2023-09-01 12:36:21

Hundreds of thousands of people in the southeast of Asia have been victims of trafficking and forced to dedicate themselves to cybercrime. This is how a new report of the United Nations (UN) that denounces the brutal methods of coercion adopted by the criminal gangs who are behind the lucrative business of scams online.

The HIM estimated that some 120,000 people would have been exploited in Myanmar100,000 in Cambodia and tens of thousands more in countries of the region such as Thailand, Filipinas o Laos. Organized crime deceives victims in order to recruit them and, once successful, subjects them to all kinds of threats, torture it is included sexual violence to force them to commit crimes fraud via Internet.

The report, released on Tuesday by the UN human rights office, adds that many of the victims in these cases are skilled people capable of speaking multiple languages ​​who are deceived by gangs with promises of interesting jobs. After being recruited, they end up operating a network of cyber fraud that spans different countries.

“inhumane treatment”

The UN High Commissioner, Volker Türk, reports that victims endure “inhumane treatment” while “being forced to commit crimes“. They are locked up in guarded facilities and both their passports and telephones are confiscated to limit their movements and communications with the outside world. Many of the victims are people migrants from South Asia, but also from African and Latin American countries.

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These criminal plots exploded after the covid-19, since the pandemic forced the casinos to close and the gangs that operated in them to look for other business channels. The bets illegal and fraud through cryptocurrencies They have been two of the alternatives that they have found.

The author of the report, Pia Oberoi, has pointed out that the corruption and the “protection” of the authorities have allowed these gangs to continue operating. “(The business) is so incredibly lucrative that there is very little political will to address it comprehensively. We see no indication that it is really slowing down, apart from the fact that the actors relocate their operations when there is any police pressure,” explained the adviser. UN Principal on Migration and Human Rights for the Asia-Pacific region.