Written by Stefan van der Berg
“Anyone Is Scammable”
The other night, I watched a documentary that left me unsettled. It featured an interview with a young man who used to work inside one of Asia’s notorious scam factories—a digital sweatshop where deception is mass-produced. He looked into the camera and said, “Anyone is scammable.” I scoffed—surely not me, I thought. Yet weeks later I fell prey to a quiet, calculated scam: a subtle manipulation, a moment of misplaced trust, and the sinking realisation that I’d been played.
That personal loss reframed everything. It revealed how truth can be engineered at scale, how vulnerable we all are, and how behind these manufactured lies lie coerced workers, hidden factories and billions of dollars siphoned from pensions, inheritances and livelihoods.
Deception is as old as humanity. In Genesis, Jacob draped goatskins over his arms and neck to mimic his brother Esau’s hairiness and deceive their blind father, Isaac, into granting him the elder’s blessing. That ancient tactic of disguise has evolved. Tonight, it surfaces not in a patriarch’s tent but in sprawling digital sweatshops across Asia, where deceit is mass-produced.
The Machinery of Deceit
Scam factories in Southeast Asia have become organised, industrial-style enterprises. Compounds carved from failed hotels, casinos and remote developments now house teams whose sole product is deception. These operations deploy:
• Scripted social-engineering techniques and call-centre discipline
• AI-driven tools such as voice cloning and deepfake video to impersonate officials, relatives and investment advisors
• Spoofed documents, fake websites and coordinated laundering networks
Deepfake-enabled fraud in the Asia-Pacific surged by more than 1 500 percent between 2022 and 2023. Investigative analyses estimate that these networks extract billions of dollars each year and funnel proceeds through crypto rails, underground banking channels and layered cash systems.
Supply and demand keep the machine humming. On the supply side, tens of thousands of people with some as young as 15 are trafficked or deceived into working these compounds. On the demand side, targets range from the elderly to entrepreneurs in Africa and professionals in North America. Hotspots include Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines and parts of Thailand, where weak oversight and corruption allow rapid expansion.
The Human Toll
Numbers only tell part of the story. Workers recruited via fake job adverts arrive expecting legitimate tech or marketing roles; instead, they find passports confiscated, quotas enforced by threats, and shift patterns of 14 to 16 hours under constant surveillance. Survivors recount beatings for missed quotas, starvation rations and psychological torture.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s “Scamland Myanmar” report calculates that in excess of 200 000 people have been deceived or trafficked into forced labour in these transnational crime operations. South Africans have been ensnared too. In March 2025, 23 nationals trafficked to a Myanmar scam compound were repatriated after intervention by the South African government and NGOs. One survivor said, “They beat us if we failed quotas. We lived on spoiled food and dirty water.” Nearly 200 more South Africans remain stranded along the Thailand–Myanmar border, unable to afford a flight home.
Thousands of people have been trafficked into KK Park, a compound on the Thai-Myanmar border designed for scamming people across the globe. Image: Stefan Czimmek/DW
Victims on the receiving end suffer their own wounds. Financial losses range from a few hundred dollars to life-devastating sums. A South African widow lost R450 000 to a romance scammer posing as a missionary; she described the theft as “a spiritual wound” that destroyed hope more than money. Across many countries, retirees lose pensions, families lose inheritances and survivors are left with long-term trauma, shame and shattered trust.
The ripple effects reach entire communities: children abandoned by trafficked parents, local economies distorted by illicit wages, and civic institutions weakened when corruption shields criminal networks.
A Call to the Church
Small-group discussions within the life of the church offer a uniquely safe space for vulnerability and transformation. When two or three gather under the banner of honest conversation, the stigma of “I’m the only one this happened to” dissolves. Members discover that being scammed is common, not shameful, and that learning from one another’s experiences is a powerful act of communal care.
Layered onto these groups, tech-savvy education workshops led by knowledgeable facilitators demystify the mechanics of modern fraud. Turning fear of the unknown into confidence, these sessions teach how to spot red flags, verify callers and secure digital accounts. By combining heart-to-heart sharing with expert guidance on scam tactics and digital safeguards, the church cultivates both relational trust and practical savvy— equipping every member, from the least tech-adept to the digital native, to withstand deception together.
Hope Beyond the Screen
Armed with this understanding, we can intercede for both victims and those who perpetrate these deceptions, trusting that grace has the power to soften even the hardest of hearts. Through every educational effort, each word of compassion and every prayer offered on their behalf, the Church stands as a beacon of truth and hope. Our sustained response—anchored in prayer, solidarity and unwavering care—can dismantle the darkest schemes and bring redemption to all.
Prayer Pointers
• Pray for healing and restoration for victims, that God would bind up their wounds, replace shame with worth and open doors to practical support.
• Pray for discernment and protection for the vulnerable, that small-group discussions and workshops spark wisdom to spot deception before it strikes.
• Pray for deliverance of coerced workers, that chains of fear and manipulation would break, and trafficked individuals find safe passage home.
• Pray for conviction and repentance among willing perpetrators, that softened hearts lead to true transformation rather than continued cruelty.
• Pray for justice seasoned with mercy, that authorities dismantle fraud networks wisely and churches offer compassionate restoration to all who seek it.