A Russian woman who escaped from a fraudulent call centre in Myanmar by swimming across a river into Thailand has been handed over to Russian diplomats.
The woman, identified as Maria Ts., was transferred from a shelter for victims of human trafficking in the northern Thai city of Phitsanulok, according to the Russian ambassador to Thailand.
Evgeny Tomikhin told the Russian state news agency TASS that the woman was feeling well following her ordeal. She was scheduled to be taken to the Thai capital, Bangkok, on September 1, before flying back to Russia the following day.
The woman's journey began when she travelled to China for work. From there, she was moved to Thailand and eventually trafficked across the border into Myanmar, where she was held in a scam compound.
While trapped at the facility, she was forced by her captors to extort money from men online.
Deceptive recruitment
These operations, often referred to as romance scams, involve perpetrators building fake relationships with victims over social media and messaging apps before convincing them to hand over money. The syndicates running these operations frequently rely on human trafficking, luring people from across the globe with false promises of legitimate employment in Southeast Asian countries.
Myanmar has become a major hub for these illicit scam centres, particularly in the border regions. The border between Myanmar and Thailand spans hundreds of miles and is defined in several sections by rivers, which form a natural barrier frequently crossed by smugglers and trafficking victims.
Regional trafficking crisis
The United Nations has estimated that hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into online scam operations across Southeast Asia. Victims who attempt to escape routinely face severe physical abuse and extortion by their captors.
The human trafficking victim assistance centre in Phitsanulok, where the Russian citizen was accommodated, is part of Thailand's network of facilities designed to support individuals rescued from these transnational criminal enterprises before they can be repatriated to their home countries.
