Post by @ZekuZelalem@dair-community.social

2026-02-17 07:24 UTC

Hello fediverse friends. For The Globe and Mail newspaper, I've spent the last four months hearing from survivors of Myanmar's infamous scam compounds. Run by Chinese criminal syndicates with the collaboration of at least one Burmese pro-junta militia, the camps are staffed by trafficking victims, including a growing number of Africans who are beaten, electrocuted and raped if they don't meet scamming targets. They aren't paid for their efforts. My story is published. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-africans-scam-camps-myanmar-scamming-rings-asia/

Replies (5)

@ZekuZelalem@dair-community.social 2026-02-17 07:28

Since 2021, a coup induced civil war, and the pandemic have created a booming scamming industry based out of Myanmar. Hundreds of scam compounds have since sprouted up, typically along the Burmese-Thai border. They target westerners with cryptocurrency and romance scams. But they are staffed by trafficked people from across Asia and Africa, who travel to Thailand believing they will be hired at well paying tech jobs in Bangkok...before being driven across the border where their ordeal begins.

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@ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us 2026-02-17 07:30

@ZekuZelalem I love when you drop big stories like this. Good work!

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@dnkboston@apobangpo.space 2026-02-17 11:53

@ZekuZelalem Thank you. I had no idea of the scale of #humantrafficking in Myanmar

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@mral@mastodon.sdf.org 2026-02-17 13:25

@ZekuZelalem I wonder how many camp like these around the world are going to be filled with the people that the conservative ICE troops are kidnapping in the USA right now. It seems that the USA is or will be a leading people trafficking source.

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@indyradio@kafeneio.social 2026-02-17 14:00

@ZekuZelalem Thank you for getting this published. Globe and Mail is an honest paper.

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