Trafficking in Southeast Asia: key findings (October 2026)
Southeast Asia is home to an industrial scam economy built on trafficked labour. In February 2026 the UN human rights office (OHCHR) reported credible estimates of at least 300,000 people working in scam operations across the region, with victims from at least 66 countries. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated in July 2026 that scams cost victims in East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand between US$88.3 billion and US$114.1 billion in 2025, at least triple the estimate for 2023, and that people from at least 80 countries and territories have been found inside scam compounds.
How governments are graded in 2026
The US State Department's 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report, released on 8 October 2026, placed Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia and Laos on Tier 3, the lowest grade. Burma and Cambodia are among 12 governments the report says have a documented policy or pattern of state-sponsored trafficking. The Philippines and Singapore hold Tier 1. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Timor-Leste and Brunei are on Tier 2; Brunei was upgraded from the Tier 2 Watch List. No Southeast Asian country is on the 2026 Watch List. Tier placements measure government effort, not how much trafficking takes place.
Crackdowns and displacement
Myanmar's military raided the KK Park compound in October 2025 and announced its demolition, but independent satellite analysis found most known compounds in Myawaddy Township were still expanding. Cambodia says that between July 2025 and August 2026 it raided 624 sites, detained nearly 30,000 people and deported more than 58,000 foreign nationals, and now claims no major scam centres remain; independent experts dispute that claim. Thailand helped repatriate more than 11,600 people from compounds in neighbouring countries in 2025 and confirmed 4,407 of them as victims of forced criminality. Analysts warn that networks are relocating, with scam operations now reported in Timor-Leste and beyond the region.
Method
- Every figure links to a primary or institutional source. Open "Sources" for the full library.
- Counted cases (people officially detected) and estimates (modelled true scale) are labelled separately and never mixed.
- Self-reported government claims, such as repatriation totals or "eradication" announcements, are labelled as claims.
- Prevalence values come from the Walk Free Global Slavery Index 2023 (estimates refer to 2021). Detected-victim series come from UNODC via the UN SDG database (indicator 16.2.2) as processed by Our World in Data.
- Map routes show direction of movement only, not exact paths.
- Helpline numbers come from official or government-cited sources and are labelled with what each line covers. Translations of the help section other than English are drafts pending native-speaker review.
If you need help
Thailand: 1300 (Prachabodi Centre, 24 hours). Philippines: 1343 Actionline. Viet Nam: 111 (free, 24 hours). Cambodia: police hotline 117. Indonesia: SAPA 129 for women and children. Malaysia: Talian Kasih 15999. If someone is trapped in a scam compound, contact the embassy of their country. People forced to scam are victims of trafficking, not criminals.
Limits of this data
US grades measure government effort and are shaped by diplomacy. Detected-victim counts measure policing as much as crime. Prevalence estimates are conservative, especially in conflict zones such as Myanmar. Government claims about repatriations, demolitions or closures cannot be checked independently and are labelled as claims.
Corrections and right of reply
Spotted an error, or named in this atlas and want to respond? Contact CMBN Media via chiangmaibusiness.net. Factual errors are corrected promptly with a dated note in the changelog, and a right-of-reply statement is added to any fact about a named person or company on request.
Data can be downloaded as CSV from the Media kit. Country summaries are also available as plain pages in the countries folder.
