bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Alastair McCready

Allegra Mendelson

This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.
*The names of all the victims have been changed throughout and some details omitted to prevent identification.
Those in charge of Myanmar’s scam centres don’t want the world to see what’s going on inside. Phones are confiscated upon arrival and work devices are wiped before anyone leaves, as scam bosses go to great lengths to hide their crimes.
Jane and Max, two Filipinos forced to work for one of the criminal outfits along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, were made to wait an additional 10 days before their eventual release in early July to allow their wounds to heal.
“They held us because of our bruises,” Jane said, showing scars on her back and shoulders. “They didn’t want anyone to see.”
Despite these cover-up efforts, evidence of widespread and severe abuse is mounting.
Each and every second is like torture in here
Ashraf, Nepali victim
Footage supplied to This Week in Asia by victims and anti-trafficking activists shows electrocutions, beatings and workers who are handcuffed, blindfolded and forced to sleep in overcrowded rooms.
The videos were shot on camera phones and the locations and times could not be independently verified, but they paint a grim picture of the abuse being inflicted by the scam gangs of Kayin state’s Myawaddy township and its surrounds.
Tens of thousands of workers from around the world have been trafficked into the industry, which took root around 2019 and then went into overdrive following Myanmar’s 2021 military coup.
Victims inside are punished for failing to meet high targets set by their bosses, or for simply asking to go home.
“Each and every second is like torture in here,” Ashraf, a Nepali victim, told This Week in Asia before his release in late July.


For some, the abuse inside turns deadly.
Grace Mata was trafficked to KK Park, in the Myawaddy area, in July last year. Four months later, the 22-year-old Kenyan was transported back to Thailand unconscious and admitted to a hospital in the Thai border town of Mae Sot in a critical condition. She died almost two weeks later.
Mechelle Moore, CEO of Mae Sot-based anti-trafficking NGO Global Alms, said the young woman underwent a botched surgery “illegally carried out at a hospital inside KK Park”.

“We tried to get the family here, but we couldn’t fast enough, so I ended up having to turn off the machine,” said Moore, who provided a letter from the Kenyan embassy in Thailand granting her power of attorney for Mata. “I pulled out the tube and watched her slowly pass.”
Industrial-scale scamming requires a deep pool of workers – mainly young English and Chinese-language speakers in need of work after the lean pandemic years.
Most trafficked into these compounds have no idea they’re in Myanmar until it’s too late. For Grey, a young Filipino man, it was only when he saw the Myanmar flag that he realised he wasn’t in Thailand.
The company is treating us like animals. Help us, I’m begging you
Arjun, Indian trafficking victim in Myanmar
Grey landed in Bangkok and travelled through Thailand to Myanmar – the most common route. A smaller number, like Nepal national Ashraf, fly into Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, and are driven east through the war-torn country.
Thinking he was in Thailand, where he was told he would be working, Ashraf was still seeking confirmation six months after his arrival. “Which country? Can you please tell me?” he asked This Week in Asia in June after sharing his live location.
Arjun, an Indian national speaking from inside a compound on behalf of a group from across South Asia, said they haven’t been paid since March. When they went on strike in April, they were locked in a room with no electricity or food for three days. The compound’s name has been withheld for the group’s safety.
“The company is treating us like animals,” he wrote. “Help us, I’m begging you.”

He showed This Week in Asia his communications with India’s embassy in Yangon asking for help, as well as an April letter sent by the embassy to Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting support.
When asked about Arjun’s case, an embassy representative, who asked not to be named, said that “getting things done” is “very difficult”.
“These are not areas where the police can go and get the people out. The government does not have any direct influence over these compounds,” he said, referring to the military junta that seized power more than two years ago.
In the absence of official law-enforcement channels, governments and NGOs are largely restricted to offering support once victims have made their way back to Thailand.


The fastest and easiest way to leave is for workers to terminate their “contracts” with large cash payments calculated by how much they earned the scam gang, minus inflated fees for transport and recruitment.
Workers often leave saddled with debt after emptying their savings, taking out loans and borrowing from family and friends to scrape the money together. This was how Ashraf finally secured his release in mid-July, forking over US$10,000.
Though promised high wages, most end up leaving in a significantly worse financial position than when they entered.
“They didn’t give us our salary, they stole our money, they stole our jewellery,” Jane said.
‘Hell on Earth’: Malaysian’s death at 23 linked to Asia’s scam gangs
As people returning from Myanmar’s scam centres usually cross back into Thailand upon release, NGOs can find themselves accused of human trafficking if they assist.
Further complicating matters, most victims initially enter Thailand as tourists before being taken to Myanmar, only returning to their country of arrival long after their visas have expired.
Facing overstay charges, many are advised to surrender to immigration authorities who can proceed with court proceedings that usually see them convicted, fined and temporarily banned from re-entering Thailand.
The alternative – registering under Thailand’s National Referral Mechanism, created last year to process trafficking victims – results in a months-long investigation.
Moore said that 90 per cent of the more than 450 people she’s worked with “choose to go home as soon as possible” by turning themselves into immigration officials without lodging a formal complaint.
“So much of this is going under the radar,” she added. “We have no idea how big this is.”
Additional reporting by Natashya Gutierrez, edited by Aidan Jones
This article was updated on August 30, 2023 to clarify comments by Mechelle Moore, CEO of Mae Sot-based anti-trafficking NGO Global Alms.


Survivors of Myanmar’s scam mills talk torture, death – and the battle to escape

A trafficking victim shows the scars left by the Myanmar scam gangs’ beatings. Photo: Alastair McCready

The Thai border town of Mae Sot where Grace Mata, a 22-year-old trafficking victim from Kenya, died in hospital days after undergoing illegal surgery “inside KK Park”. Photo: Alastair McCready 

A screengrab from footage shared with This Week in Asia by victims and anti-trafficking activists shows a Myanmar scam centre “worker” being beaten with a stick. Photo: Handout

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Footage smuggled out of the scam gangs’ crime hubs shows electrocutions, beatings and people handcuffed, blindfolded and forced to sleep in a pile
There’s no central government law enforcement to intervene – as rumours swirl of egregious forms of abuse ‘going under the radar’


Footage smuggled out of the scam centres shows electrocutions, beatings and people being handcuffed and blindfolded, as rumours swirl of egregious forms of abuse ‘going under the radar’.


Exclusive | Survivors of Myanmar’s scam mills talk torture, death – and the battle to escape

Footage smuggled out of the scam gangs’ crime hubs shows electrocutions, beatings and people handcuffed, blindfolded and forced to sleep in a pile There’s no central government law enforcement to intervene – as rumours swirl of egregious forms of abuse ‘going under the radar’

Footage smuggled out of the scam gangs’ crime hubs shows electrocutions, beatings and people handcuffed, blindfolded and forced to sleep in a pile

There’s no central government law enforcement to intervene – as rumours swirl of egregious forms of abuse ‘going under the radar’