Indonesia seeks to free citizens trapped, held captive by Myanmar scam rings

Indonesia’s government said Monday it was working to rescue citizens who alleged they were being held captive and had been beaten, prodded with electric shocks and forced to work without pay in Myanmar, after videos surfaced online showing them pleading for help.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jakarta said it was coordinating with Burmese authorities to locate and rescue the Indonesians, who were thought to be in Hpa Lu, a remote region near the Myanmar-Thailand border known for an active conflict and the presence of armed groups. 

“The embassy is also conducting informal communication with networks in Myawaddy,” Judha Nugraha, the ministry’s director for the protection of Indonesians overseas, told BenarNews, referring to a town in Myanmar’s Kayin state. 

Initial reports stated that at least 20 Indonesians, possibly more, were trapped in the area, he said.

One video showed a group of Indonesian men and women huddling on bunk beds, with one of them saying they were lured to Thailand with promises of well-paid jobs, only to end up trapped in forced labor.

“We are being held captive here in Myanmar. We are being held without pay, forced to work 15 hours a day,” the man said in the video seen by BenarNews. “If we don’t meet the targets, we are beaten, tortured and are subjected to electric shocks.”

Thousands of migrant workers across Southeast Asia have fallen victim to online job scams, where many end up trapped in forced labor for cybercrime operations in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos along with other countries, according to statistics and reporting by the United Nations.

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Scammers hit Indonesia

Indonesia in particular has been hit hard, with more than 3,700 citizens falling victim to such scams since 2020, according to the foreign ministry. So far this year, 107 Indonesians have reported being trapped in Myanmar, with 44 rescued and 63 awaiting help.

Inside Myanmar, post-coup political turmoil and civil conflict have created lawless areas where such criminal activity thrives.

Cyber scam operations across Southeast Asia involve hundreds of thousands of people and generate billions of dollars annually through illicit activities like cajoling, stealing, and blackmailing victims, according to U.N. estimates.

In Myanmar, these operations are often run by Chinese organized crime rings and have grown significantly since the 2021 military coup.

There have been reports of human trafficking, abuse, and torture within these scam centers, with the U.N. estimating that at least 120,000 people are forcibly employed in Myanmar’s cyber scam industry.

An investigation by RFA Burmese in 2023 found that scam centers were operating in central Yangon, the country’s largest city. Unlike the remote compounds, these urban operations appear more formalized and less reliant on forced labor, instead tapping into a pool of educated but unemployed Yangon residents, according to the reporting by Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews.

Earlier this month, the Philippine News Agency reported that 162 foreign nationals, primarily from China and Indonesia, were rescued during a raid on an online gambling and fraud operation at a resort in Cebu, and were facing deportation. Authorities said the operation highlighted the widespread nature of illicit activities across the region.

Analysts said limited job opportunities, lack of awareness about online scams and weak government oversight in Indonesia have made people vulnerable to these scams.

“The lack of job opportunities is driving many workers to seek employment abroad, often with little information, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation,” said Timboel Siregar, secretary-general of the All-Indonesia Workers’ Union.

Timboel called for improved intelligence and monitoring to identify and prevent such cases, noting that many workers leave the country on tourist visas.

“Our intelligence should be able to detect this. These operations are clearly well organized by syndicates,” he said.

Andy Ahmad Zaelany, a researcher at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, said economic hardship made people more susceptible to scams promising high-paid jobs.

“With rising costs and stagnant wages, people are easily tempted by the promise of higher earnings abroad,” Zaelany told BenarNews.