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View all search resultsOnline scams and punishment
Rather than mounting rescue operations repeatedly, Indonesia should take the lead in a coordinated regional and international response, including legal harmonization, to clamp down on human trafficking and forced labor linked to transnational crimes.
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South Korean police officers escort a group of citizens as they arrive at Incheon International Airport on Jan. 23, 2026, after they were forcibly repatriated from Cambodia over their alleged involvement in local scam operations. (Reuters/Kim Soo-hyeon)
T
he ongoing evacuation of Indonesians from overseas scam compounds lays bare a painful truth: that organizing repatriation flights and offering citizen protection services are stopgaps, not solutions for preventing the criminal exploitation of migrant workers.
The government’s repeated efforts to rescue citizens from such situations points to structural gaps at home that allow vulnerable Indonesians to be lured into potentially exploitative and criminal work abroad.
According to the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh, over 2,200 citizens sought assistance to return home following Cambodian authorities’ crackdown on scam centers in late January. That figure drew nationwide attention and raised alarm about how many Indonesians had been ensnared by scam operations to date.
These hubs of online fraud and labor exploitation have become infamous. The United Nations estimates that 100,000-150,000 people have been trafficked and forced to work at scam centers in Cambodia alone, many deprived of their rights and coerced into committing fraud under threat of violence.
The sprawling industry spanning Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos is linked to a multibillion-dollar cybercrime economy that preys on victims globally.
Human rights advocates have documented harrowing conditions in these compounds ranging from forced labor and confinement to reports of torture, sexual assault and rights violations. These findings underscore that far from being informal job sites, many are sites of trafficking and abuse.
The National Police have confirmed multiple cases where citizens were lured by offers of high-paying jobs, only to find themselves trapped in scam operations.
