Most Australians have been targeted by a scam attempt, from spam text messages to intricate love fraud. The scams have cost us billions.

But behind these attacks is a highly organised and secretive industry – fuelled by human trafficking. 

It’s believed hundreds of thousands of people are being held against their will in so-called “scam factories” across South East Asia, including in Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines. Many of these factories are run by Chinese-linked gangs operating in border regions.

Ben Yeo has seen first-hand how these compounds operate. In early 2024, he was kidnapped and trapped in a Cambodian scam factory. 

Today, Ben Yeo on how he escaped the scam compounds, and why so many others struggle to get out. 

 

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Guest: Ben Yeo, ambassador for the newly formed Australian International Counter Slavery Alliance (AICSA)

Background reading: Scam Factories

Photo: Valeria Mongelli/Getty Images

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