Camille Naredo

Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) along Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) raid a BPO compound in Bagac, Bataan on October 31,2024 alleged to be a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO), following a search warrant for human trafficking violations. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) along Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) 
raid a BPO compound in Bagac, Bataan on October 31,2024 alleged to be a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO), following a search warrant for human trafficking violations. 

Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

POGO-HUB

Agence France-Presse

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175389541723720241031-pogo-raid-bagac-MT-35.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) along Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) raid a BPO compound in Bagac, Bataan on October 31,2024 alleged to be a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO), following a search warrant for human trafficking violations. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File"/>Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) along Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) raid a BPO compound in Bagac, Bataan on October 31,2024 alleged to be a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO), following a search warrant for human trafficking violations. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File</div>GENEVA, Switzerland -- Human trafficking for forced criminal activity is growing at an alarming rate, with hundreds of thousands of people trapped in online scamming centers across Southeast Asia, the United Nations said Wednesday.Too often, instead of getting help, victims are arrested for crimes they were forced to commit, the head of the UN&#x27;s migration agency said on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.&quot;Trafficking is a human rights crisis, but it&#x27;s more than that. It&#x27;s a massive global business that fuels corruption, spreads fear, and prays on the most vulnerable,&quot; Amy Pope said.<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/7/30/tiktok-ibp-to-help-gov-t-in-fight-vs-human-trafficking-illegal-recruitment-1604">READ: TikTok, IBP to help gov&#x27;t in fight vs human trafficking, illegal recruitment</a></div>Her International Organization for Migration agency has witnessed trafficking for forced crime expand with &quot;alarming&quot; speed, she said.&quot;Right now, across Southeast Asia, hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in online scamming compounds,&quot; the IOM chief said.&quot;These operations bring in an estimated $40 billion a year, and many of those trapped are migrants, young jobseekers, children, and people with disabilities.&quot;She said the Geneva-based IOM had helped nearly 3,000 victims rebuild their lives since 2022.The agency has helped bring people home from the Philippines and Vietnam and supported victims in Thailand, Myanmar, and beyond, Pope said.But she warned that far more remained stranded.<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/7/14/-golden-triangle-the-riverside-city-in-laos-awash-with-cybercrime-1218">&#x27;Golden Triangle&#x27;: The riverside &#x27;ecozone&#x27; in Laos awash with cybercrime</a></div>&quot;To make matters worse, instead of getting help, they&#x27;re often arrested, prosecuted, and punished. Let me be clear: no-one should be jailed for something they were forced to do,&quot; she said.She urged governments and civil society to step up and get national laws changed so that trafficking survivors could be protected rather than punished -- and urged authorities to go after the traffickers rather than those they exploit.Myanmar&#x27;s many-sided civil war -- sparked by a 2021 coup -- has enabled the rapid growth of lucrative internet fraud factories established in its loosely governed borderlands.Cyberscam operations lure foreign workers with promises of high-paying jobs but hold them hostage and force them to commit online fraud. Many of the trafficking victims are Chinese men.Many people have said they were trafficked into often heavily fortified scam compounds to target victims with romance or business scams on social media, luring them into making untraceable cryptocurrency payments.<div>© Agence France-Presse</div>

Human trafficking for forced criminal activity is growing at an alarming rate, with hundreds of thousands of people trapped in online scamming centres across Southeast Asia, the United Nations said Wednesday.

Human trafficking for forced criminal activity is growing at an alarming rate, with hundreds of thousands of people trapped in online scamming centres across Southeast Asia, the United Nations said Wednesday.

UN sounds alarm on Southeast Asia scam center surge

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UN sounds alarm on Southeast Asia scam center surge

Agence France-Presse

Published July 31, 2025 01:19 AM PHT

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