Bokeo province, Laos – Khobby was living in Dubai last year when he received an intriguing message about a well-paying job working online in a far-flung corner of Southeast Asia.
The salary was good, he was told. He would be working on computers in an office.
The company would even foot the bill for his relocation to join the firm in Laos – a country of 7.6 million people nestled between China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.
With the company paying for his flights, Khobby decided to take the plunge.
But his landing in Laos was anything but smooth.
Khobby discovered that the promised dream job was rapidly becoming a nightmare when his Ghanaian passport was taken on arrival by his new employers.
With his passport confiscated and threats of physical harm ever present, he endured months working inside a compound which he could not leave.
The 21-year-old had become the latest victim of booming online cyber-scam operations in Southeast Asia – an industry that is believed to have enslaved tens of thousands of workers lured with the promise of decently paid jobs in online sales and the information technology industry.
“When I got there, I saw a lot of Africans in the office, with a lot of phones,” Khobby told Al Jazeera, recounting his arrival in Laos.
“Each person had 10 phones, 15 phones. That was when I realised this was a scamming job,” he said.
The operation Khobby found himself working for was in a remote area in northwest Laos, where a casino city has been carved out of a patch of jungle in the infamous “Golden Triangle” region – the lawless border zone between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand that has long been a centre for global drug production and trafficking.
He said he was forced to work long days and sleep in a dormitory with five other African workers at night during the months he spent at the scam centre in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone.
Khobby recounted the original message he received from an acquaintance encouraging him to take the job in Laos.
“My company is hiring new staff”, he said, adding that he was told the salary was $1,200 per month.
“He told me it was data entry.”
Casino city
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ) where…