Southeast Asia plagued by online scams, reveals UN report
At the end of August, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published The report, which shows that in Southeast Asia, organized criminal groups forcibly attract hundreds of thousands of people to participate in various forms of online depressions. They include financial fraud associated with cryptocurrency, illegal gambling and other types of fraud.
Victims are subjected to serious human rights violations, including threats to their safety, torture and other forms of abuse. “These people are victims. They are not criminals,” said the Supreme Commissioner of the UN Human Rights Volker Turk.
Assessing the scale of the problem is difficult due to its closed nature. However, according to reliable sources, only in Myanmar the number of such people can exceed 120 thousand. In Cambodia, this figure is about 100 thousand people. The problem is also relevant for other countries of the region, including Laos, Philippines and Thailand.
Fraud centers bring income on a scale of billions of US dollars per year. The Covid-19 pandemic had a dramatic effect on various illegal activity, forcing the casino and other organizations to go into online space. And people since then began to spend much more time on the network, which also negatively affects the number of potential victims.
The criminals increasingly began to aim at migrants who were in a vulnerable position due to the closure of borders and enterprises, offering them a “real work”. Most victims are men, but among them there are also women and adolescents. Many of them are well formed, speak several languages and come from professional areas.
The report also indicates the shortcomings of legislation and politicians in a number of Southeast Asia countries. Victims are often mistakenly identified as criminals or violators of immigration legislation and are subjected to criminal prosecution or immigration sanctions. And all this after threats and other kinds of persecution from real criminals.
Volker Turk calls for all affected states to increase the efforts to protect human rights and improve law and order, including the fight against corruption. “Only such an integrated approach can interrupt the cycle of impunity and provide protection and justice for