Employment scams proliferate as desperation for jobs grows

By DMG 28 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
28 July 2022, Myawaddy, Kayin State

Volunteers helping migrant workers in the Myanmar town of Myawaddy on the Thai border have reported an increase in job scams this month.

Victims are duped by offers of jobs under the false pretence that they are in line with an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on migrant labour between the Myanmar and Thai governments, they said.

“There have been job scams since May, in which victims were lured by the promise of a legal work permit under the MoU in Thailand. And the number of scams has increased this month,” said a migrant worker activist from Myawaddy.

“Brokers not only con their money, but also bring the victims to Myawaddy and send them into Thailand. Victims are asked to pay at least K1 million by brokers, but they end up being arrested at the border,” he added.

The Myawaddy-based Migrant Monitoring Group (MMG) received a phone call on Sunday from victims who reported job scams and asked for help. Police subsequently arrested five brokers allegedly involved in the cons, and confiscated K33.8 million from them.

More than 500 victims were spotted at guesthouses and hotels in the border town, according to MMG.

“Most of them are young people. All five scammers were rounded up,” said a MMG member.

The rise of fraudulent job schemes is one of the inevitable consequences of Myanmar’s coup, said human rights activists, adding that such scams will only increase as unemployment remains unacceptably high in the country amid a post-coup economic downturn.

“More people are desperate for jobs overseas as jobs are scarce in the country. And there are people who exploit this situation to con money from them. As there is no rule of law and police are not enforcing it, they [scammers] can work with impunity,” said human rights activist Ko Zin.

There were more than 50 reported cases of scams from May to the last week of July that promised jobs in Thailand under the MoU, according to the MMG.