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Thirty-eight Bangladeshi nationals rescued from various scam compounds in Cambodia, or sent there with promises of employment, have returned home.
They arrived in Dhaka at 12:10pm on Thursday (September 3) on Thai Airways flight TG-321.
At Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, BRAC’s Migration Programme, with support from the Civil Aviation Security and Expatriates’ Welfare Desk, provided the returnees with emergency assistance, counselling and financial support to help them reach their respective homes.
Earlier in June, 583 Bangladeshis returned home from Cambodia. The latest group came back after the Cambodian government, from September 1, began allowing foreigners who had overstayed their visas to voluntarily return to their home countries without paying fines. Around 1,800 more Bangladeshis are reportedly waiting to return.
The returnees called for ensuring their security, providing necessary legal assistance, properly investigating their complaints and taking legal action against those involved.
Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC’s Migration Programme and Youth Platform, said the victims had been held in various scam compounds in Cambodia and forced to engage in fraudulent cyber activities.
“The returnees said some Bangladeshi human traffickers operating in Cambodia intimidated and pressured them in various ways while they were returning home and tried to prevent them from leaving the country,” he said.
“Cyber scams are now one of the most dangerous forms of human trafficking. Bangladeshis are taken abroad with promises of high-paying jobs in developed countries and then forced to engage in fraudulent online activities. They were subjected to physical and psychological abuse when they failed to meet assigned targets,” Hasan said.
He stressed the need to identify and bring to justice brokers, recruiting agencies and international trafficking networks involved in such incidents through proper investigations.
According to data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), 15,921 Bangladeshis travelled to Cambodia for employment over the past one and a half years. However, returnees said thousands of Bangladeshis are still living in inhumane conditions there after failing to find jobs or falling victim to fraud. Most of them were sent abroad with promises of high-paying jobs.
Many of the 583 Bangladeshis who returned in June had BMET clearance, according to reports.
Earlier this year, eight Bangladeshis returned home on January 22 after being rescued from a cyber scam centre in Myanmar, while another 18 returned on September 19, 2025. They too had been taken to Myanmar through the Thailand border with promises of good jobs. After arriving there, their passports and mobile phones were confiscated and they were forced to engage in cyber fraud.
According to BRAC, job seekers are lured through fake websites, emails, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and other online platforms with advertisements for attractive positions such as computer operators, call centre executives and customer service representatives.
They are then taken to scam compounds, held at gunpoint and forced to carry out online fraud.
BRAC has urged Bangladeshis to refrain from travelling to Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam for employment without being fully certain about the authenticity of job offers and employers.