Thousands of Indonesians conned into working for scam syndicates overseas

Lured by offers of better-paying jobs, they are instead forced to carry out online scams

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Indonesian fruit seller Budi was seeking better prospects when he signed up for an IT job in Cambodia. But he found himself detained in a heavily guarded compound where he was forced to carry out online scams.

"When I arrived there, I was told to read a script," said Budi, not his real name. "It turned out that we were asked to work as scammers."

The 26-year-old was put to work 14 hours a day in a site ringed by barbed wire and patrolled by armed guards, he said. His days were punctuated by threats from his supervisors, and the nights were short.

At the end of six weeks, he received just US$390 (S$525) of the US$800 he was promised.

Thousands of Indonesians have been enticed abroad in recent years to other South-east Asian countries for better-paying jobs, only to end up in the hands of transnational scam operators.

Many have been rescued and repatriated, but dozens still languish in scam compounds, forced to trawl social media sites and apps for victims.

Food stall worker Nanda, not her real name, said her husband flew to Thailand in mid-2022 after his employer went under, jumping at the chance to earn 20 million rupiah (S$1,670) a month in an IT job recommended by a friend.

But after arriving in Bangkok, a Malaysian agent whisked him and five others across the border to the Myanmar town of Hpa Lu, where he was forced to work in an online scam compound.

The man was made to work shifts of more than 15 hours, facing punishments and verbal abuse for falling asleep on the job.