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The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned that human trafficking networks linked to online scam centres are expanding rapidly, luring hundreds of thousands of job seekers with fake overseas employment offers before forcing them into cyber-enabled fraud operations.
Issuing the warning on Tuesday, the UN migration agency said the multibillion-dollar criminal industry is exploiting people from across the world, particularly through deceptive recruitment campaigns on social media.
Addressing journalists in Geneva, IOM Director General Amy Pope said victims from more than 80 countries have been trafficked into scam compounds operating mainly across Asia.
“We’re seeing victims from over 80 different countries being trafficked into the scam centres, which are specifically playing out across Asia,” Pope said.
According to the IOM, traffickers typically target educated individuals with good English-language skills by advertising seemingly legitimate employment opportunities online.
Victims are promised attractive salaries and professional jobs abroad. However, upon arrival, they are allegedly confined inside heavily guarded compounds, stripped of their passports and mobile phones, and kept under constant surveillance.
The agency said many victims are subjected to physical violence, psychological abuse and debt bondage, forcing them to carry out online scams targeting people around the world.
“They’re often subjected to physical or mental abuse. They are often unable to leave,” Pope said.
She urged job seekers to remain vigilant, warning that employment offers promising unusually attractive benefits are often fraudulent.
“What often presents as something that looks like an ideal job opportunity is just too good to be true,” she said.
One key warning sign identified by the IOM is when recruiters ask workers to travel on tourist visas instead of valid work permits. Pope advised prospective migrants to verify visa arrangements and employment documents before leaving their home countries.
The IOM stressed thapeople forced to operate online scam centres should be recognised as victims of human trafficking rather than treated as criminals.
“We’re seeing many of the survivors of trafficking actually being identified as criminals, but in reality, they are the victims of this crime,” Pope said.
Although most scam compounds are located in Asia, recruitment is conducted globally through online platforms and social media.
Between 2022 and 2025, the IOM assisted more than 3,500 victims of forced criminality in Southeast Asia originating from 39 countries. Most of them came from Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya and Bangladesh.
The agency said returning home does not end victims’ suffering. Many survivors continue to face severe psychological trauma, social stigma, financial debt, missing travel documents and the risk of criminal prosecution despite being victims.
The financial scale of the criminal enterprise continues to grow. According to new data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), scam-related losses across East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 2025 were estimated at between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion, far exceeding the resources currently available to combat human trafficking.
“Unless we take the issue quite seriously, we anticipate it will continue to grow,” Pope warned.
The IOM called for stronger international cooperation, increased investment in victim protection, safe return and reintegration programmes, and broader public awareness campaigns to help people identify fraudulent recruitment schemes before they fall victim to trafficking networks.