The e-frauds

Even the internet fraudsters are victims – enslaved by the gangs

Criminal gangs enslave people from all over the world and force them to carry out internet scams on their behalf. The Wall Street Journal reports this in a long report.

Victims are often lured to remote locations in Southeast Asia, where they are then forced to spend their days trying to trick strangers on social media. Anyone who does not follow orders is punished by the gangs, which are often Chinese.

The newspaper writes that it is difficult to understand the extent of the crime. According to the UN, hundreds of thousands of people have been threatened, tortured and intimidated to countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia. The victims come from Latin America, Africa and Asia, but also from Europe and the United States.

At the center of the global scam industry is a "lawless country" along Myanmar's eastern border. The pandemic has accelerated development. Satellite images show how entire cities have been built up in the area since 2019, with the sole purpose of being a hub for the scams.

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Billy was tricked into the world of scams: "It was like a horror movie"

41-year-old Ethiopian Guracha Belachew Bersha, known as Billy, is one of hundreds of thousands of people who have been lured to Southeast Asia to be forced to become an internet fraudster. He tells the Wall Street Journal.

- It was like a horror film, he says.

Billy left an Ethiopia in chaos and came to Asia in 2022. After a while, the IT-experienced Billy was offered a well-paid job at a company that called itself Huilong Network. Nothing in the recruitment process seemed strange.

When he arrived in Bangkok for his new job, he spent two days in a hotel before a driver picked him up. The car journey lasted eight hours and his passport was confiscated. The journey took him to a crime syndicate in Myanmar. During his time as a fraudster, he was sold several times and he himself describes it as "slavery".

At one point, Billy led a strike. After that, he was beaten and tortured in front of the other workers. He was freed only after his family paid a ransom of $7,000.