Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a stark warning about the growing network of scam compounds operating across Southeast Asia, where Nepali citizens are being enticed by lucrative job offers only to find themselves detained and forced into online fraud operations. Since first appearing in isolated reports in 2021–2022, the phenomenon has expanded into an industrial-scale criminal system embedded in border regions of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Officials now describe the crisis as a complex intersection of human trafficking, cybercrime and national security risk.
Speaking in a press briefing MOFA spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri said, “We do not know the exact numbers of victims trapped in these places, but we speculate the numbers to be a lot,” emphasizing the uncertainty surrounding the scale of the crisis. MOFA issued at least a dozen press releases and five travel advisories on the crisis since it first emerged, reflecting sustained alarm within the government.
According to MOFA data, 392 Nepali nationals have been rescued and repatriated from scam centers across Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. A further 309 individuals are currently in the process of rescue, including 30 from Myanmar. In a connected development, 18 Nepali nationals have been sentenced by a Myanmar court to one year of imprisonment on charges of illegal entry after attempting to enter scam-affected border regions. Nepali Ambassador to Myanmar, Harishchandra Ghimire, has held discussions with Myanmar authorities, and it has been agreed that Nepal will formally submit a written request seeking pardon and repatriation of those individuals.
Yet even these official figures likely represent only a fraction of the total number affected.
A recent UNHRC report concluded that scam operations in Southeast Asia have reached “industrial proportions.” Credible estimates suggest at least 300,000 individuals from 66 countries are currently involved in scam workforces, with some compounds housing thousands, or even tens of thousands of workers at a time. In February 2025 alone, approximately 7,000 victims were released along the Thailand–Myanmar border within two weeks, illustrating the scale and volatility of the system.
Recruitment through trust and vulnerability
MOFA officials report that many targeted Nepalis possess computer-related skills or prior foreign employment experience in gulf countries. They are typically lured with promises of high salaries and stable working conditions.
But the recruitment process is rarely random. The same UNHRC report shows that nearly three-quarters of survivors were recruited through trusted sources including friends, relatives, former colleagues or acquaintances. Thirty-seven percent were recruited directly by someone they personally knew and trusted, and another 37 percent were alerted to job opportunities by familiar intermediaries.
Recruiters have learned to exploit modern digital pathways and trusted networks simultaneously: job offers advertised on social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, WeChat and others often gain credibility because they are shared first by someone the victim trusts or respects. Recruiters then move conversations to encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal, where they craft an impression of legitimacy through professional-looking interviews, multi-stage processes, requests for official documents, and videos depicting happy employees.
Economic vulnerability plays a decisive role. Forty-seven percent of survivors were unemployed or underemployed at the time of recruitment, and 74 percent were actively seeking better opportunities. Two-thirds identified promised salary as the most persuasive factor in their decision.
In some cases, victims were pressured to recruit replacements in exchange for promised release. In others, family members unknowingly encouraged departure. The combination of social trust and financial desperation has created a powerful recruitment pipeline.
Inside the compounds: coercion and systematic abuse
Upon arrival, victims’ passports and phones are confiscated. They are assigned revenue targets in phishing schemes, cryptocurrency fraud, fake online dating operations, gambling platforms and digital casinos. Failure to meet quotas leads to escalating punishment.
Victims report physical abuse, confinement in isolation rooms, ransom demands, forced recruitment of new victims and psychological intimidation. Families have reportedly been extorted for payments ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In some cases, torture was broadcast live to relatives.
UN investigators describe compounds functioning as closed prison systems, with armed guards, surveillance infrastructure and strict internal discipline. Sexual violence, forced abortions, sleep deprivation and denial of medical care have been repeatedly documented.
How rescue works — and why it Is so difficult
Rescue operations are diplomatically and logistically complex.
Prakash Adhikari, Chief of the Southeast Asia and Pacific Division at MOFA, explained: “After victims contact the embassy, rescue requests are routed through Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Myanmar government’s Foreign Nationals Repatriation Committee facilitates rescue. Repatriation is conducted via Thailand with coordination from the Embassy of Nepal in Bangkok.”
Rescue cases often move through Bangkok due to limited direct access to certain border zones. However, the process can be delayed by bureaucratic requirements, travel documentation gaps, and financial constraints.
In some cases, embassies must issue emergency travel documents when passports have been confiscated. Return airfare costs frequently delay repatriation. Nepal currently relies heavily on coordination with Non-Resident Nepali (NRN) representatives or local community members, unlike countries such as India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which sometimes deploy embassy personnel directly to border regions to accelerate rescues.
Scam centers frequently operate outside effective state control, particularly along the Thailand–Myanmar border in areas influenced by armed groups. Similar operational gaps exist in parts of Cambodia and Laos, making direct enforcement extremely challenging.'
Fig: UN Human Rights monitoring victim profiles
Criminal adaptation and technology
Pushpa Raj Bhattarai, Chief of Labor Migration and Nepali Diaspora Coordination Division, speaking on the evolving nature of enforcement challenges, emphasized that criminal networks are increasingly technologically sophisticated.
“The scammers are using smart devices, satellite phones and technologies that operate smarter than government systems,” he noted, pointing to encrypted communications and rapid digital adaptation that often outpaces state monitoring mechanisms.
Raids and crackdowns, observers say, often result in relocation rather than dismantling of networks.
International and ASEAN responses
MOFA's concern comes at a moment of rising global attention. ASEAN member states have progressively recognized the problem, adopting declarations and mechanisms aimed at combating transnational crime, cyber scams and online fraud. Since 2023, ASEAN forums have produced multi-sector work plans, declarations reaffirming cooperation on trafficking and cybercrime, and a regional working group on anti-online scam collaboration.
Globally, INTERPOL and other multilateral organizations have warned about the scam industry's spread beyond Southeast Asia into Pacific islands, the Gulf States, West Africa, and the Americas. INTERPOL's coordinated operations and early warnings helped catalyze global focus on the syndicates behind scam networks.
International sanctions, particularly from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, the EU, South Korea and others have targeted individuals, entities, and armed groups linked to scam operations, including sanctions of hundreds of individuals and the seizure of high-value financial assets, such as 127,000 bitcoins worth billions linked to Cambodian syndicates.
Despite these efforts, enforcement remains uneven. Observers note that raids and crackdowns often drive networks to relocate or reconfigure rather than dismantle. Limited prosecutions of kingpins and infrastructure operators, weak digital and financial regulations, and ongoing human rights violations have combined to make the region both a production site and export hub for scam operations.
Nepal's role and policy challenges
In response to this growing crisis, Nepal has pursued rescue and repatriation diplomacy through its embassies and foreign ministry channels. Rescues are complex and expensive, often delayed by the cost of travel logistics, bureaucratic procedures, and limited embassy resources. MOFA officials highlighted that Nepal's reliance on community intermediaries , instead of deploying embassy personnel directly to border regions as India and Bangladesh can sometimes slow critical interventions.
In an attempt to tackle this issue, MOFA has issued extensive advisories urging would-be migrants to avoid risky job offers, verify employment opportunities, secure labor approvals, avoid working on visit visas, and stay in regular contact with diplomatic missions abroad. The ministry appeals to citizens to report suspicious recruitment and to lodge complaints if they pay money to brokers or agents who later deliver fraudulent paths into scam centers.
Yet even these measures, however important, may not suffice. The UN human rights report cautions that traditional awareness campaigns risk being ineffective if they do not engage with structural and behavioral drivers of recruitment. Economic pressures, informal recruitment pathways, lack of legal protection mechanisms and cognitive biases all combine to make individuals susceptible to highly persuasive offers. Information about scam risks, while necessary, does not alone override financial desperation or social proof from trusted networks.
Experts stress that prevention strategies must go beyond awareness to include regulation of digital labor marketplaces, oversight of recruitment agencies, strengthened labor migration governance and robust screening and protection protocols for vulnerable migrants particularly in countries with weak labor oversight and limited worker protections.
What MOFA has begun to document in detailed rescue figures and broader cautious estimates is part of a much bigger story: a transnational human rights crisis manifesting on digital platforms and global labor flows. As international bodies and regional mechanisms grapple with its scale, Nepal's own response will be celebrated not only on how many citizens are brought home, but on whether deeper structural vulnerabilities are addressed before the next wave of victims is recruited.
(Ms Baral holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.)
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