Imperfect Victims: Trafficking Survivors of the Online Scam Industry
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation | An examination of the experience of Chinese and Vietnamese victims trafficked into scam compounds, from initial recruitment to their lives after leaving (or escaping) captivity. A key finding: Survivors are seen as offenders due to their participation in online scams, even if it was forced through violence, coercion, and exploitation.
The research includes:
Online surveys of 62 survivors from mainland China who had been held in compounds in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos.
Nearly 100 interviews with survivors, 68 of whom were from mainland China and others from Taiwan, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Bangladesh.
Information and case files from 21 human-trafficking court cases in Vietnam involving 130 victims who had been forced into criminality.
Trafficking Victim Demographics: China and Vietnam
The demographics are similar across the Chinese surveys and the Vietnamese court cases. In both cases, qualitative data suggests that victims lacked stable employment prior to recruitment.
Most victims forced into scamming were male (84.7% and 83%, respectively).
The age data for China showed that 55% were under 25 and 32% between 25 and 30. The Vietnamese data shows that 71% were between the ages of 18 and 39.
A disproportionate number of Vietnamese victims came from ethnic minorities (27.7% compared to 14.7% of the general population).
Trafficking Recruitment Strategies
The first stages of recruitment in China often included a promise of legitimate work. Most offers involved simple but high-paying jobs and generous benefits in hospitality, agriculture, or construction. The patterns were similar:
91% reported no formal interview
90% weren’t told the location of the job
90% were told to keep the offer secret
The approach was successful due to limited opportunities in the Chinese job market. Disturbingly, 79% found the jobs through personal contacts, including friends and relatives.
Among Vietnamese victims, 30% were recruited through online job offers and 64.6% through trusted personal contacts. Of the 130 people, all but two left home believing they had a job lined up. The lowest wages offered were about twice the USD $270 average monthly salary in Vietnam, with one as high as $1,900.
Travel to the Scam Compounds
Education levels affected how the victims were transported to the compounds. In China, the most highly educated received legitimate travel documents, only to be trapped upon arrival. The less-educated and more vulnerable victims were often smuggled at gunpoint or under confinement without passports or visas.
Given Vietnam’s adjacency to countries with scam compounds, 78.5% involved informal or unauthorized border crossings, often including violence by smugglers.
Experiences after Release or Escape
Victims leave the compounds in different ways and face new challenges beyond the walls. The three most common ways people get out are:
A relative pays a ransom
The victim gets a message to a relative, journalist, embassy, or authority
They’re rescued through informal channels or help from NGOs, semi-formal groups, or individual activists
Once outside, they’re often stranded without identification, money, or legal documents. If they surrender to immigration authorities, they’re likely subject to fines, detention, or deportation at their own expense. Working through an official process to be recognized as a trafficking victim is often slow and difficult because they’ve committed crimes while held. Still others try to get home on their own, which also risks punishment for crossing borders illegally.
Read more in the full report, “Imperfect Victims: Comparing Chinese and Vietnamese Survivors of Forced Criminality in Southeast Asia’s Online Scam Industry,” including:
The legal and social complications faced by victims
Social stigma and distrust in their home countries
Criminal liability based on activities while trafficked
Financial liabilities from pre-existing debt, ransom, immigration costs
Psychological and health challenges from the overall experience
Authors include Dr. Ivan Franceschini from the University of Melbourne and colleagues from the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation and the EOS Collective nonprofits. Dr. Franceschini is a Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, Asia Institute. His current research explores the intersections of globalization, labor, and the evolving dynamics of crime, with a focus on the online scam industry.
