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Comment by 30minAdayHN | Hacker News Reader

I always thought that people willfully participate in scams to make more money. For example, I know there are quite a few telephone scam centers in India, that call US folks for SSN fraud etc. I thought these folks just work for salary.

It's scary to look at the scale of 'organized' crime / modern slavery. This is almost like Squid Games.

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Three months ago there is a report that 119 Thai citizens were deported from Cambodia after a call center ring was busted. Out of these numbers, 100 willfully worked for the ring. 15 worked for the illegal gambling establishment. Only 4 minors are reportedly the victim of human trafficking. Ironically, when those people came back (willfully or otherwise), they will claim that they were being "misled" or "coerced" to do it even though the evidence suggests that they willfully do so.

Thai authorities are trying to combat this issue by cutting off supply of basic utilities (electricity, network connection) to hinder their work. The government claimed that this reduces the volume of scam attempts by 20%, though it's not entirely gone as long as they can find a way to circumvent it

Kidnapping Indian and Chinese residents for their languages skills is pretty documented. That's more of a Shan states thing than Cambodia

Is that irony?

They're writing about a different country: Cambodia, not Myanmar

> Out of these numbers, 100 willfully worked for the ring. 15 worked for the illegal gambling establishment. Only 4 minors are reportedly the victim of human trafficking. Ironically, when those people came back (willfully or otherwise), they will claim that they were being "misled" or "coerced" to do it even though the evidence suggests that they willfully do so.

Exactly. Same as when prostitutes get picked up. They say they're trafficked or coerced to get a lighter sentence. Cops love it because they get to act like they're on the tail of serious crime and get more resources. Win-win at the expense of everyone else.

While I don't doubt that happens, the article shows complexes surrounded by walls and numerous guard towers. I think it is safe to assume that most of the people inside these facilities are not there voluntarily.

> deported from Cambodia

GP commented about Cambodia, but the article is about Myanmar.

Maybe that can explain the difference. (If slavery is more prevalent in Myanmar)

Following the attempts to dismantle the scam ring in Myanmar, many rings moved their base of operation to Cambodia and continued from there. That's the reason I described the scenario in Cambodia, as it's more recent, though I also recall the similar news and discussions about the scam ring in Myanmar as well.

To my understanding this also was the common reality no 5 years ago.

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