Thirty-seven Bangladeshi nationals rescued from cyber scam compounds in Cambodia returned home early Friday after being trafficked and forced into online fraud operations under the guise of overseas employment.
The returnees arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 1:25am on a Thai Airways flight.
According to BRAC's Migration Programme, each of the victims received emergency assistance upon arrival, along with financial support to help them return to their respective homes.
One of the returnees, Shahinur Rahman (pseudonym) from Dhaka, said they had travelled to Cambodia through legal channels after being promised lucrative jobs. Upon arrival, however, they were allegedly sold by a Bangladeshi trafficking network to Chinese-run cyber scam compounds.
The victims said they were forced to engage in online fraud targeting citizens of the United States and other developed countries. Failure to meet performance targets often resulted in physical and psychological abuse.
The Bangladeshis were rescued during recent operations conducted by Cambodian law enforcement agencies against several scam compounds.
The latest repatriation follows similar incidents involving Bangladeshi nationals trapped in cyber scam centres across Southeast Asia. On January 22 this year, eight Bangladeshis were brought back from a scam centre in Myanmar, while another 18 returned on September 19, 2025.
In those cases, victims were lured abroad with promises of attractive jobs and taken to Myanmar through areas along the Thailand border. Their passports and mobile phones were confiscated upon arrival, severing contact with the outside world, before they were subjected to abuse and coerced into cyber fraud activities.
Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC's Migration Programme and Youth Platform, described cyber scam operations as a growing and particularly brutal form of human trafficking.
"Fraudsters advertise attractive positions such as computer operators, typists and call centre agents through fake websites, emails and social media platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram. Victims are then taken to scam compounds, held captive and forced to participate in online fraud schemes," he said.
He urged jobseekers to exercise extreme caution before accepting employment offers in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, and stressed the need to verify the legitimacy of overseas jobs.
Hasan also called for stronger measures to ensure safe migration and enhanced international cooperation to combat cyber scam networks and human trafficking.
