LURED BY JOBS, FORCED INTO CRIME

From job ads to cyber slavery: how unemployed South Africans are lured, then trapped abroad

- ANITA NKONKI and WENDY JASSON DA COSTA

SOUTH Africa's youth unemployment crisis is quietly fuelling an international cyber-slavery economy.

With youth unemployment sitting at 46.1 percent, desperate young people are being lured by promises of lucrative jobs abroad, only to find themselves trapped in foreign compounds, forced to commit cybercrime, and subjected to violence, intimidation and, in some cases, threats of execution.

Southeast Asia has emerged as a hub for these cyber-trafficking networks. Since last year, more than 120 South Africans have been rescued from Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. Last week, at least 20 returned home, with another group repatriated on Tuesday. Experts warn that countless more remain undocumented and at risk. The crisis is likely to deepen, with 4.9 million unemployed youth, according to Statistics South Africa figures.

Donaldson Chapepe from the NGO Brave To Love has been working to bring victims home, providing air tickets, care packs and counselling services, while coordinating efforts with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).

He said victims were recruited mainly through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp advertisements promising fully paid flights, accommodation and well-paid work in hospitality, IT, technical support or teaching English.

"People are desperate. People are looking for jobs. People are vulnerable. And when people are desperate, it’s easy to take advantage of them."

Chapepe said victims believed they would be based in Thailand, but once they landed, they were forced into vehicles for an eight-hour drive to the border, followed by a dangerous river crossing into Myanmar.

“Along the way, they change cars, and it gets rougher and rougher. And there are guns involved.”

From the border, victims were taken to massive scam compounds housing thousands of trafficked people and run by organised criminal networks.