Criminal gangs increasingly lure victims to work in online scam centers, UN migration agency warns

Criminal networks are trafficking hundreds of thousands of people globally to work in online scam centers, a growing problem that ensnares even educated English speakers, the UN's migration agency warned.

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We're seeing so many more of these cases emerge right now.

Victims are lured by fake job advertisements, often on social media, promising work abroad. Once recruited, they are held captive, their identity documents are seized, and they are forced into participating in online scams through violence, threats, and "debt bondage."

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We're seeing victims from over 80 different countries being trafficked into the scams.

Amy Pope, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, stated that the agency is seeing "so many more of these cases emerge right now." She noted that victims hail from over 80 countries and are often recruited for their English language skills and graduate degrees, with these operations "specifically playing out across Asia."

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They're recruiting people who often speak English very well, who often have graduate degrees, some level of education.

The UN migration agency cited estimates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that losses in east Asia, Australia, and New Zealand alone reached as much as $114 billion last year. "Scam compounds" across the region may hold hundreds of thousands of trafficked workers. Between 2022 and 2025, the IOM assisted over 3,500 victims of forced criminality, originating from nearly 40 countries, with Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Bangladesh being the most affected.

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specifically playing out across Asia.