Oxana’s story: Scam Center
In this episode, Fuzz Kitto explores Oxana's story (read her full story here) and examines how modern slavery can affect individuals who are professional and educated. Scam centres go beyond just deceiving people for financial gain; the perpetrators behind these scams often find themselves ensnared and enslaved as well. These operations are orchestrated by organised crime networks equipped with the resources to deceive individuals into both financial scams and forced labour. This phenomenon is ensnaring a new category of victims.
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G’day and welcome to the podcast, Slavery Unravelled. I'm Fuzz Kitto, Co-Director of Be Slavery Free. And this is the second podcast in this series, raising the awareness, understanding and processes of modern slavery through stories, reflections, interviews and experiences. Modern slavery happens in every country in the world. But each context affects modern slavery is modes and practices. In other words, the way it happens. As I have mentioned before, poverty is a big driver, well for many, but it's not the only strand in the complex tangle of the wicked problem of modern slavery. Vulnerability, and those who play on people's vulnerability can drive the way in which modern slavery happens too. If people are ambitious and see a way of making money, under the guise sometimes of helping someone find a job, it can even appear noble or an act of kindness. This is the deception that is almost always present. For others it is a chance for excitement or adventure, or a chance to better themselves and they get caught because they are willing to take the risks in the chance of getting something more exciting than what they had. This is not always because people are poor. In this story that Matt researched for us in Cambodia, it was a chance to try something new.
Listen to the story of Oxana. View the video here.
One sunny afternoon in August 2022, Oxana was sitting in the lobby of a brand-new luxury resort, skiing through the Alps on a VR headset while surrounded by minders as she prepared to start her new job with a charity in an emerging commercial and tourism hub on Cambodia’s coast.
The job came with an apartment, a good salary and the promise of a glamourous life in the rising satellite city—a jewel along China’s Belt & Road complete with golf courses, casinos, and high-street shopping. To welcome Oxana, the company threw a boat party.
But just five days later, the 35-year-old Russian was fighting for her freedom and frightened for her life—pulled over on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, begging her minders to set her free.
“I saw that I will just die. For me, it’s either death or I’m a slave—and maybe its death at the end of that anyway,” she said, a few months after escaping the ordeal.
The job she had applied for was fake. The recruitment process, a trap. And now the people who had tricked, trafficked and attempted to enslave her were demanding $2,500 to set her free.
Oxana’s story mirrors many from across Southeast Asia in recent years, as hundreds of thousands have been lured and forced to work in online scamming and gaming operations, according to the United Nations. Her detailed testimony gives rare insight to the tactics used by dodgy recruiters to ensnare educated, working professionals in their criminal operations.
Oxana was living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when she applied for the job through an agent she met on a website for jobseekers. The day after a Skype interview, she was in a company car, driving from the capital to the coast.
The six-hour trip gave minders time to fill Oxana with hope for a lavish new life but shortly after arrival, she began to see cracks in the VIP veneer. Passing armed security to enter the gated compound was the first red flag. Then there was the identity of the company, which seemed to shift between charity fund and loan shark, depending who was in the conversation, and her role, which suddenly seemed unfixed and loosely defined.
But all of her concerns were met with reassurances and distractions: boat rides, cash, upgraded accommodation, and promises of more attractive jobs – a honey-coated bid to keep her inside the compound.
Oxana was living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when she applied for the job through an agent she met on a website for jobseekers. The day after a Skype interview, she was in a company car, driving from the capital to the coast.
The six-hour trip gave minders time to fill Oxana with hope for a lavish new life but shortly after arrival, she began to see cracks in the VIP veneer. Passing armed security to enter the gated compound was the first red flag. Then there was the identity of the company, which seemed to shift between charity fund and loan shark, depending who was in the conversation, and her role, which suddenly seemed unfixed and loosely defined.
But all of her concerns were met with reassurances and distractions: boat rides, cash, upgraded accommodation, and promises of more attractive jobs – a honey-coated bid to keep her inside the compound.
“They were really nice with me. They didn’t show any negativity or aggression. They showed me that they actually understand my opinion,” she said. “I didn’t realise that they were actually holding me there.”
Oxana could sense that something was amiss, but was wary of causing a scene. She had heard about the rise of criminal-run scamming centers, how people forced into online fraud were traded between bosses, and the cruel treatment dished out to those who tried to escape.
Eventually, after days of careful negotiations, she loaded her luggage and herself into a car that her minders had organised to take her home.
“And then two more guys that I don’t know got into the car,” she recalled. “’I’m sorry, what are you doing in this car. This car is reserved for me. I am going to Phnom Penh’,” she told the two men.
“They said, ‘yeah, yeah, our company is also friends of this company. We also need to go to Phnom Penh. We actually ordered this car and they asked us to take you with us’,” she recalled them saying.
“I wanted to leave as soon as possible,” she said, and so off they went.
Tensions eased as the three chit-chatted for an hour. The men empathised with Oxana over the evil place she had escaped. Then, all of a sudden, the conversation took a turn.
“They started to ask me if I would consider working with them,” she said.
Oxana politely declined—but the two men were increasingly persistent, and then, without warning, the car pulled to the side of the road.
“They started explaining that, basically, I don’t have much choice,” Oxana said. “They said ‘You belong to us now. We already paid for you’.”
Her heart sunk as her mind flashed back through the past few days. Then, on the side of the road in the dark that night, the two men laid everything bare. Oxana had been in the grips of a cyber-crime gang from the moment she had landed the job. There was no charity. The whole ‘car-back-to-Phnom-Penh’ scenario was a charade. The two minders were working in the same criminal realm—possibly for the same boss.
And now, they were demanding a $2,500 ransom to set her free—the price they said they’d paid her previous captors.
“I was like ‘what do you mean? I have nothing to do with this $2,500. I did not make any deal. Nobody can sell me’,” she recalled, appealing for them to set her free.
But the two men held their ground.
“They said ‘No, no, no. Sorry, it doesn’t work like this. You have two options: you can go to work with us, and we make sure you are safe… or you can go back to these horrible people you left from… and you can’t imagine what they will do to you’.”
Racked with fear and panic, she could hardly think.
“I didn’t know how it would end. Will they let me free, will they kill me at the end or will they kill me now in the forest? I was so scared that I was just begging and begging,” she said.
“But then, somehow it arrived to my brain: wait, $2,500… It’s not that big money; I can just ask friends to send me this money now and it will be done.”
Oxana managed to secure her freedom. But her story is rare. It should serve as a warning: trafficking, slavery and exploitation can begin so subtly that they are near impossible to detect. Far from the old tropes of people being chained-up in basements, modern slavery is often obscured by a façade of luxury, and many victims do not even realise they are trapped until they attempt to leave.
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Some scam centres in the region have been known to exploit vulnerable individuals. Just like Oxana subjecting them to slavery and slavey-like practices. These scam operations often target unsuspecting victims through fraudulent schemes such as phone calls, scams or deceptive job opportunities. Many of these are in trade zones in Cambodia and Myanmar, just inside the borders with Thailand. Because they target people in countries like China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, etc, they need people that are multilingual, intelligent, articulate, and good communicators. These are not generally people who are poor or farmers or isolated. They need people who are well educated, knowledgeable, and often looking for a good job, and a good time. Like in the case of Oxana.
To combat modern slavery, many organisations and governments may have been working diligently to raise awareness, strengthen legal frameworks and provide support to victims. But these centres are illegal, well resourced with intelligence and technology and very very rich, they can buy off local authorities and police and politicians. NGOs, civil society groups often play a crucial role by offering assistance to survivors and advocating for their rights. Additionally, many governments are working to enhance law enforcement, certainly with efforts to crack down on these illegal operations and hold perpetrators accountable. It's essential for individuals to be vigilant and aware of potential scams, especially when receiving unsolicited calls, or encountering suspicious job offers by staying informed and reporting any suspicious activities to the relevant authorities.
We can contribute then to the fight against modern slavery in this area, and try and protect vulnerable individuals from exploitation in these ways. Unfortunately, there have been numerous stories of people who were trafficked into scam centres in Southeast Asia and discovered that they were essentially enslaved.
These individuals are often lured with false promises of employment or other opportunities only to find themselves trapped in exploitation, situations with a with little to no freedom whatsoever. Unlike Oxana, victims of trafficking and scam centres may endure long working hours, physical and emotional abuse, confiscation of their personal belongings, restricted communications with the outside world, and even debt bondage. They are often coerced into carrying out fraudulent activities, such as making scam calls, or engaging in other illegal practices, particularly those under the control of their captors.
Rescuing victims from these situations can be challenging due to the organised nature of these operations, and the complex web of collusion involved. However, through increased awareness, collaboration between law enforcement agencies and supported by NGOs, efforts are being made to identify and assist victims of modern slavery of scam centres. It is crucial that survivors are provided with access to legal aid and counselling and rehabilitation programmes to help them rebuild their lives after their ordeal. By shedding light on these stories and advocating for stronger measures against human trafficking and modern slavery, we can help raise awareness about the issue and push for better protection of vulnerable individuals who have fallen victim to modern slavery in these scam centres.
What can you do about it? Well, tell people about this form of modern slavery point people to our website so they can read the stories and read Oxana stories for themself at www.beslaveryfree.com/oxana. And then you can also download the clip of Oxana story that is on the page and send that to people you know, especially to younger people interested in getting a job overseas, or the families of these people or friends. There are petitions and other actions that you can find on our website too. So, I hope this has been helpful and giving you another insight and understanding and may be a slavery unravelled experience for you.
There are so many things that we can do together. And as we make this known as we share this around, as we start to raise people's awareness, awareness that leads to actions is not just about knowing about it, or even the titillated by it sometimes. But rather, finding out as a citizen of the world, working towards the common good for all of us, we can really make a difference and really find ways together to really disrupt, prevent, and abolish modern slavery.