It is hard to imagine, but lurking behind our virtual dating apps and social media accounts is a grim world of exploitation. Right now, hundreds of thousands of young people from over 60 countries are being held captive in scam centres run by criminal gangs across Southeast Asia. Often, this is against their will. Experts describe this as the most severe and fastest-growing form of human trafficking and exploitation.
This is evident in Mae Sot, a small Thai border town which has become the epicentre of the global scam industry.
Deep in the jungle is Daniel*, an Ethiopian. Along with his ‘colleagues’ from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Uganda, Cameroon and Ghana, he has just escaped from a scam centre in Myanmar. He was held captive for two years and two months, subjected to mental and physical exploitation, and forced to defraud people online.
