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Transcript

 
A special ITV News investigation into a global scamming epidemic and how those forced to carry it out are kidnapped and then tortured or murdered if they resist. The scams, mainly around cryptocurrencies, target people all over the world, including here in the UK.

Victims can lose all their life savings, but the scammers behind the phone or keyboard are often victims too. We discovered many are lured to Thailand under fake promises of work and then smuggled across the border into Myanmar or Laos.

They are then enslaved and forced to earn their freedom. This crime didn’t even exist four years ago; now, it’s one of the most lucrative and fastest-growing forms of modern slavery.

Today, the UN estimates hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked. Just last month, the UK Foreign Office became the first to sanction individuals and businesses linked to the criminal gangs behind it. These images show the growth of the compounds where people are imprisoned.

This was the site of the notorious KK Park in Myanmar in 2020, and these satellite images show how rapidly the site has grown.

Lucy Watson traveled to Thailand to hear from victims and see how authorities are trying to stop it.

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In Southeast Asia’s poorest nations, where borders are porous and corruption is rife, a crime has taken route that is deceiving people in every corner of the globe.

Sarah, Kidnapped Victim: “The people that they work, they’re the people that have your life in their hands.”

We spoke to Sarah, at home in Africa. I was in Bangkok when she was kidnapped last year.

“They drive around to confuse us,” she recalls.

She had gotten a job with a tech firm in Thailand advertised on Facebook. Instead, she was trafficked to the border with Myanmar, and her passport taken.

Sarah: “When we got to the side of the river and they got like a boat, and when you look across the river, you see that armed men with guns. They say to us, ‘Okay get inside the boat and lay low.’

“So I’m thinking okay if I raise my head, I’m going to get shot.”

Sarah was then trapped inside a compound for 9 months and using messaging apps forced to persuade Brits and Americans to invest in cryptocurrency.

Sarah: “So my job was to make friends, make connections, make them believe that I’m the rich Asian woman talking to them, and then they can entrust me with the money.”

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We traveled to that border. Thai military were on patrol — yet people are still being smuggled across the Moi River to Myanmar, close to where Sarah was held.

Lucy Watson, Journalist: “So is it… it’s quite unusual to get this close?”

Jake Sims works for the International Justice Mission, the organization that rescued Sarah.

Lucy Watson, Journalist: “What will likely be the setup inside?”
Jake Sims, International Justice Mission: “Yeah, these look like the dorm building, probably where people are sleeping and 8 to 10 to a room.

The people who are in that little tower are almost certainly overseeing the movements that are happening inside that area, just like you would imagine a prison in a yard.”

It’s hard to comprehend when you’re here that just 150 meters away from where I’m standing, people are being forced to scam millions of pounds out of others from across the world.

Yet nobody can do anything to stop it.

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ITV News obtained secret video of what these scam operations look like on the inside . . . and what can happen to victims. Some have been chained up, beaten with sticks, and electrocuted.

Jake Sims, International Justice Mission: “They’re not your stereotypical trafficking victim. These are educated people, they’re technologically savvy, and they’re going onto social media platforms looking for jobs.

Very, very often you’ll also see major brands like, in this example Accenture Thailand. That’s a fake offering a reasonable salary.”
Journalist: “So, in effect, why would you question this?”
Jake Sims, International Justice Mission: “Exactly.”

This was the site in 2020. But in the last four years, the notorious KK Park has grown rapidly.

Jake Sims, International Justice Mission: “It’s enormous. And like, basically anyone could either be a victim of the human trafficking side or they could be a victim of the crime itself.

These are people from the UK, from the US, from China, from Taiwan. They are losing their life savings.”

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6,000 miles (9,656 km) away. In Manchester, Rebecca was scammed just like this.

Rebecca, Scam Victim: “I felt sick. Thought no, this, this can’t be happening to me.”

She was conned into investing in cryptocurrency after clicking on a popup site on Facebook.

Rebecca, Scam Victim: “I invested £200, built up rapport with account manager. I was speaking to him more than I was speaking to my husband, and over months and months, I added more and more. That’s when things went wrong.

One of my contacts online, today at 12:31.”

Even today whoever scammed Rebecca is still active, but nobody can say where from.

Because along the Mekong River, this network of compounds expands. Further from within these high rises have been reports and pleas for help. This time, on the Thai-Lao border.

Thailand is a transportation hub.

We posed as tourists to be allowed into Lao. It is Lao, but it has the reputation for being a Chinese city conducting extensive illegal activity, where multiple calls for help have been tracked.

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Thai government knows who’s responsible.

Siriwish Chantechasitkul, Director of Human Trafficking Crime Bureau: “From the information we have, it’s various groups that have joined forces. Most of them are Chinese.”
Journalist: You know where it’s happening. Why can’t it just be stopped?”
Siriwish Chantechasitkul, “Because the crime is happening outside Thailand’s borders, we don’t have the authority to investigate. So, we can’t stop it. Every country involved needs to cooperate intensively.”

Because when cooperation does happen, people can be freed.

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“What happens to him now?” We witnessed the rescue of an East African man taken to a Thai government shelter. He’d been held in Myanmar for a year. His identity had to be protected.

Lucy Watson, Journalist: “How’s he doing?”
Mark Oldenburger, International Justice Mission: “He’s, uh, obviously experienced a lot of trauma, and he’s still trying to process what has happened to him.”

In Bangkok, where his journey as a modern slave began, he now has refuge from this crime of exploitation, violence, and fraud that affects lives far beyond this city.

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News Anchor: “This is a huge global crime, hundreds of thousands of people, but it’s going on under the radar.

So, what’s been done to stop it but also help all the victims?

Lucy Watson, Journalist: “Well, to be quite honest, out in Asia, the criminals felt untouchable to me. But there are several ways to tackle it. Let’s start with the tech companies and the financial institutions.

They could take down these fraudulent adverts. Banks can compensate their customers, the victims of these crimes.

Rebecca, in my report, she lost a life-changing amount of money. That’s how she described it to me. She couldn’t bring herself to actually say how much. Yet, she has received little or nothing in compensation from her bank.

Governments across the world need to cooperate. It’s a global problem that needs a global solution to make these criminals accountable.

Now, the UK is, in fact, leading on this. Only last month, they sanctioned nine individuals and five companies for their involvement in just this kind of trafficking.

But to be quite honest, having spoken to victims on both sides of this criminal activity, the greatest weapon we all have against it is awareness, knowing about it, and thus being wary of it.”

News Anchor: “Yeah, okay. Um, it’s fascinating, Lucy. Thank you.”

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Questions

 
Scam. The report was about a lone individual carrying out online scams from his computer, in his bedroom in the UK, targeting only British people. True or false?

Swindle, Rip Off. Do the scam factories have a long history? Have scam enterprises developed gradually over the years?

Fraud, Cheat. The big scam facilities are located in Thailand. Is this right or wrong? Is this region filled with manufacturing plants and high-tech industries?

Lie, Deceive. Are (all) the scammers from Thailand? Are the frontline scam workers inherently criminal? Are they innately criminally-minded? How do they end up in the scam facilities? Did they willingly join the scam organization?

Front, Cover. How do the scammers operate? How does the scam operation function?

Dishonest, Treacherous. Will Thai authorities close the scam operation, arrest the perpetrators, try and imprison them?

Corruption, Graft. Jake, Mark and others in the International Justice Mission conduct James Bond, MI6 and CIA-style covert and commando operations. Is this correct or incorrect?

Fair, Equal. Are most scam victims rich people and multinational corporations? Describe Rebecca’s experience.

Transparency. Can only the International Justice Mission put an end to the global scam operation?
 
 
 
Rule of Law. I have received (suspicious) “unsolicited” invites (which look like fronts or covers for spam, phishing, pharming, spoofing, vishing, smishing, spear phishing, or whaling)?

Accountability, Transparency Have you or your friends been scammed, swindled, ripped off, defrauded or cheated? What are some common, popular or “fashionable” types of scams lately?

Probity, Integrity. Does the media and everyone talk about online frauds, scams, swindles rip offs? Is everyone very concerned about them? Has this grown over the years?

Honesty. What might happen in the future?

Trustworthiness. What could or should people and authorities do?