Scam centres expand into Madagascar after crackdown in Cambodia | Gravitas

A new IP address, region and country is the new modus operandi of scamsters looking to escape the law. Raids in Madagascar against online scam centres have made an alarming revelation: the centres that previously operated from Cambodia and other Southeast Asian nations have now moved their fraudulent operations to Southern Africa.

The raids in Madagascar exposed ties with a criminal group that ran similar operations in Cambodia, and which has also been accused of duping African nationals through alleged human trafficking. Mostly operated by Chinese nationals, the sites were engaged in romance, cryptocurrency and investment fraud. Of the apprehended scamsters, 148 have been extradited to China, Madagascar’s justice ministry stated.

In a joint operation conducted with the US Department of Justice, thirteen Chinese-run scam compounds were taken down in August and September. About $52 million worth of cryptocurrency was seized in a single day, and over 3,200 electronic devices were processed. The raid comes after the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had warned last year about the expansion of these networks, especially into Southern Africa. China has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations to crack down on an industry that has flourished in the region.

In October, a Chinese court sentenced three members of a criminal gang to death for operating a network of brutal scam centres in Myanmar. Separately, a Chinese-born Cambodian tycoon was arrested in Cambodia in January 2026 and extradited to China, accused by international and Chinese authorities of running a massive, industrial-scale transnational cyber fraud, human trafficking and illegal gambling empire based in Cambodia.

Recruitment tactics mirror Southeast Asian operations

Akin to scam operations in Southeast Asia, the Madagascar centres allegedly lured Africans via social media with promises of salaries. Around 20 nationals of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe who were taken into custody stated that they were recruited via Facebook to come work in Madagascar in the commercial sector. It is only once they arrive that their passports are confiscated and they are forced to scam.

A global crisis

A 2026 United Nations report details a massive human rights and humanitarian crisis involving multi-billion-dollar online scam compounds. According to the report, over three lakh victims from more than 80 countries have been trafficked and coerced into working inside industrial cyber-scam operations. Nearly 75 per cent of these operations are located in the Mekong region — primarily in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, along with global spillover.

Victims are lured by fraudulent white-collar or tech job advertisements. Their passports are confiscated, and they are imprisoned in heavily guarded compounds with barbed wire and armed security. Survivors report beatings, starvation and sexual violence, among other abuses. These trafficked workers are forced to work up to 19 hours a day, executing digital fraud, crypto scams and deepfake-driven schemes.