GENEVA — The United Nations’ migration agency is raising serious concerns about criminal networks that have been trafficking hundreds of thousands of people into online scam operations, and officials say the problem is getting worse.
The International Organization for Migration reports that victims are frequently deceived by fraudulent job advertisements — spread mainly through social media — that promise legitimate employment overseas. Once they arrive, victims find themselves locked up, stripped of their identity documents, and forced to take part in online scams through violence, threats, and a practice known as “debt bondage.”
“We’re seeing so many more of these cases emerge right now,” IOM Director-General Amy Pope told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. “We’re seeing victims from over 80 different countries being trafficked into the scams.”
Pope noted that the criminal networks are deliberately targeting people with strong English skills and higher education. “They’re recruiting people who often speak English very well, who often have graduate degrees, some level of education,” she said, adding that the cases are “specifically playing out across Asia.”
The agency pointed to estimates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime showing that financial losses across east Asia, Australia, and New Zealand totaled as much as $114 billion last year. Officials also noted that so-called “scam compounds” across the region may be holding hundreds of thousands of trafficked workers at any given time.
Between 2022 and 2025, the IOM said it provided assistance to more than 3,500 victims of forced criminality who came from nearly 40 different countries. Those most affected included people from Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Bangladesh.
