Dozens of Kenyans rescued from scam centers stuck in Myanmar

Alleged scam centre workers and victims are pictured during a crackdown operation by the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) on illicit activity at the KK Park complex in Myanmar’s eastern Myawaddy township on February 26, 2025. Hundreds of foreigners are being sent home from scam compounds in Myanmar that are run by criminal gangs, with many workers saying they were trafficked and forced to swindle people around the world in protracted internet scams. Agence France-Presse

NAIROBI — More than 60 Kenyans rescued from Myanmar’s notorious cyberscam compounds are trapped at the border with Thailand in “dire” conditions, according to the east African nation.

Cyberscam operations, which have thrived in Myanmar’s lawless borderlands for several years, lure foreign workers with the promise of high-paid jobs.

But when the workers arrive the scammers hold them hostage, forcing them to commit fraud online.

READ: Battered Myanmar scam center workers wait for deportation to China

Under pressure from key ally China, Myanmar has cracked down on some of the compounds, freeing around 7,000 workers from at least two dozen countries.

The 64 Kenyans are among those freed but “they are yet to cross the border to Thailand for onward repatriation to their home countries”, Kenya’s State Department for Diaspora Affairs said in a statement posted on Monday on X.

“This is because Thai authorities have not reopened the border crossing since 12th February 2025 when the first wave of 260 foreigners, including 23 Kenyans, were handed over to the Royal Thai Army,” it added.

READ: Q&A: Southeast Asia’s latest scam center crackdown

As a result the freed workers were left to wait in makeshift camps at the Myanmar-Thailand border in “dire” conditions with a lack of access to medical facilities, clean water and electricity, the statement said.

The Kenyan authorities said they were also exploring alternative routes to bring their citizens home.

Last week, about 600 Chinese nationals were sent home from Myanmar to their country via Thailand.

The United Nations estimates that up to 120,000 people, many of them Chinese, could be working in Myanmar’s many scam compounds.