Chairperson of Komnas HAM, Atnike Nova Sigiro, made this statement at the launch event of the "2023 Komnas HAM's study in human trafficking and high-level dialogue on human trafficking" here on Thursday.
"The cases of online scamming that lead to human trafficking is one of the new trends, which become a cause of concern for Komnas HAM," Sigiro remarked.
She pointed out that Indonesia is one of the countries that is mostly targeted for online scams that lead to human trafficking, both as a sending country as well as a destination nation.
"Komnas HAM itself has received reports about online scams (that lead to human trafficking) from a number of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in the period between December 2022 to May 2023," she highlighted.
According to the study, the current trend is that online scammers target victims with skills in information technology (IT).
The Komnas HAM study also found that scammers promise the victims to be employed in the IT field, but they would be hired as online gambling operators.
The scammers find and recruit the victims through job advertisements on social media and arrange paid travel for the victims to the destination country.
Upon arriving at the work site, the victims' human rights would be violated, wherein they often experience verbal threats, face detention at the work site, are subject to heavy fines and salary deductions, and are forced to work as digital scammers or identity stealers.
This special study is expected to contribute to and enrich stakeholders' efforts to tackle human trafficking in Indonesia and a way to find concrete joint commitments in handling the crime.
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Translator: Nadia R, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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