Stuck in scam centre hell

Part of a criminal industry worth billions of dollars a year.

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Hundreds of exhausted young men lie in an open-sided detention centre in a seedy Myanmar border town, sweating through thick tropical heat by day and prey to clouds of mosquitoes by night.

They are among some 7,000 people from more than two dozen countries released from scam compounds who are now enduring a gruelling wait to be sent home through Thailand.

Conditions in the overcrowded temporary camp in the town of Myawaddy, near the Thai border, were squalid and those held there were begging to leave.

A Chinese detainee who gave his family name as Wang said he was "very happy" at the prospect of getting out.

"I can finally escape this hell... China is the safest," he said.

Scam centres have sprung up in Myanmar's lawless border areas in recent years as part of a criminal industry worth billions of dollars a year.

Thousands of foreign workers staff the centres, trawling social media for victims to fleece, often through romance or investment cons.