How The Salvation Army is quietly working to combat a global scourge
- simoneworthing
- 1 hour ago
- 5 min read
Cyber-scamming is a scourge on communities worldwide. Victims are often left devastated, morally and financially, and sometimes at risk of their lives. To mark International Human Rights Day (10 December), The Salvation Army’s All the World magazine explored the historic roots and current landscape of human trafficking tied to scam centres in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia and how the Army is offering support to vulnerable people caught up in this modern-day crime.
BY MARCUS MOO*
The Golden Triangle – where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet – has long been defined by rugged terrain, porous borders and shadow economies. Once dominated by the narcotics trade, the region is now the epicentre of one of the world’s fastest‑growing forms of exploitation: the mass trafficking of men, women and, increasingly, young people, into forced criminality within cyber‑scam compounds.
For decades, border communities in the Golden Triangle have faced conflict, poverty, and statelessness. In Myanmar’s Shan, Kachin and Kayin states, armed groups have long financed themselves through narcotics, extortion and illicit trade. Entire communities have been displaced by war, pushing thousands towards Thailand and Laos in search of safety or work.
Advanced exploitation
Northern Thailand is also home to hundreds of thousands of hill‑tribe people caught on the edges of the Myanmar conflict who lack access to formal education, healthcare and legal protection. These vulnerabilities create fertile ground for traffickers who prey on those with few alternatives. In Laos, economic hardship and limited state capacity have led many to migrate into Thailand’s agricultural and construction sectors – often becoming indebted, deceived, or exploited along the way.
These long‑standing patterns of vulnerability now feed a newer and more technologically advanced form of exploitation.
The rise of scam compounds: from casinos to cybercrime In 2019, transnational criminal organisations began shifting from gambling operations to the highly profitable world of online fraud.
Old casino complexes and special economic zones were quietly repurposed into scam compounds. Individuals from across Asia – China, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Nepal, and beyond – were recruited with false promises of high‑paying jobs. Once transported to compounds such as Shwe Kokko in Myanmar, the Kings Romans–linked Golden Triangle SEZ in Laos, or large campuses in Sihanoukville, Cambodia; they found themselves trapped.
Passports were confiscated. Phones removed. Movements monitored. Inside these heavily guarded enclaves, victims were forced to operate what are referred to as ‘pig‑butchering’ scams (where scammers lure their victims into what they believe to be a romantic relationship – fattening them up to then exploit them financially), cryptocurrency fraud networks, or remote gambling operations, often under threat of starvation, beatings, electrocution, or torture.
Rivalling the drug trade
Recent reports estimate tens of thousands have been trafficked into these compounds. UN investigations in 2024-2025, show that scam centres generate tens of billions of dollars each year, rivalling the scale of the global drug trade and directly implicating armed groups, militias, and corrupt officials.
Crackdowns by regional authorities – such as the high-profile demolition of KK Park in Myanmar in November 2025 – often disperse rather than dismantle the networks. Trafficking victims simply disappear into neighbouring compounds, while operators rapidly rebuild elsewhere.
A scam “state” has emerged: decentralised, mobile, and protected by complex political and economic interests.
The Salvation Army in Chiang Rai: preparing the way
Amid this unsettling backdrop, The Salvation Army’s compassionate work in Thailand has been developing since 2014. Since the movement’s official launch there in 2023, a surge of growth has been evident, including in Chiang Rai, a regional city in the northern Thailand.
Chiang Rai sits at one of the region’s most strategic crossroads: close to the Myanmar border town of Tachileik and only hours from Laos’ Bokeo province, where scam compounds have proliferated. It is a province marked by poverty, statelessness, and cross‑border movement; conditions that traffickers often exploit.
The Salvation Army’s Chiang Rai ministry is led by Major Lalrintluanga and Major Lalnunmawii who partner with other local non-government organisations (NGOs) to conduct simple, grassroots‑level awareness sessions for corps members and vulnerable communities. These sessions help families recognise deceptive recruitment tactics, understand safe‑migration principles and learn how to respond when encountering girls, women or young people at risk.
Future plans could potentially scale this humble prevention and awareness building community work to a level that will have greater impact across the province.
The concept imagines broader preventive work including:
strengthening referral pathways with government and NGOs
equipping screened corps members as protection volunteers
distributing relief kits to vulnerable families
creating early warning networks in border market communities such as Mae Sai
supporting stateless and migrant youth through education and social assistance
Aside from these plans that await international funding, the efforts being undertaken in Chiang Rai at this juncture remain foundational. Though quiet and localised at present, the work is meaningful. It builds trust, strengthens relationships and prepares the ground for deeper engagement.
A future safehouse for women and girls
Alongside its work on awareness building and prevention, The Salvation Army has developed an aspirational concept for a protection facility in Chiang Rai dedicated to female victims of trafficking.
This vision is still in the early explorative stage. The proposal imagines a safe space equipped to provide immediate care including food, clothing, translation support, trauma‑informed listening, legal accompaniment and coordinated referrals.
Meetings with Thai provincial authorities are being organised to understand requirements, explore legal pathways and discern how such a facility might align with Thailand’s anti‑trafficking and child‑protection frameworks.
This is not yet an operational program. It is an aspiration – rooted in compassion, research, listening and the realities observed on the ground.
Challenges, caution and hope
As The Salvation Army discerns its next steps, wisdom is essential.
The history of the Golden Triangle shows that when one illicit trade is disrupted, another quickly takes its place. Trafficking patterns shift. Syndicates retaliate.
Vulnerable people continue to suffer. Any future safehouse must be built carefully, in collaboration with authorities and with deep sensitivity to community dynamics and security concerns.
Yet the need is undeniable. Every moment brings new stories: a teenage boy who escaped a scam compound and crossed into Chiang Rai; children left behind when parents migrate abroad and fall into harm. In these small encounters, The Salvation Army responds quietly – offering meals, prayer, transport, referrals and presence.
These humble acts foreshadow the deeper mission at the heart of The Salvation Army.
Countercultural work
The Golden Triangle stands at a pivotal moment. Its criminal networks are evolving faster than governments can respond. Entire economies have been reshaped by illicit online activities. Lives are being commodified at an unprecedented scale.
In such a landscape, compassion is countercultural and protection is holy work.
The Salvation Army’s current awareness efforts, and its hope for a future safehouse in Chiang Rai, reflect a commitment to walk alongside the vulnerable, advocate for justice, and offer refuge ‘in Jesus’ name’.
The road ahead is long, but through partnership, prayer and steadfast love, light can break through in a region often overshadowed by exploitation. A safe harbour in Chiang Rai may one day stand as that light: a sign that every life is precious, every girl is worth protecting and every survivor deserves hope.
Look out for an All the World documentary in the New Year on the growth of The Salvation Army’s work in Thailand.
*Marcus Moo is The Salvation Army’s Director of Social and Community Services and Social Justice for Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand
