More Sri Lankans Trapped in Myanmar’s “Cybercrime Factories”

Another twist in the grim saga of Sri Lankans lured overseas with the promise of IT jobs: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that yet another group has been trapped in Myanmar, forced into cybercrime networks near the Thai–Myanmar border.

These young job seekers thought they were heading for tech careers. Instead, after arriving on tourist visas, they found themselves coerced into shady online scams in a zone so notorious it’s literally marked on Google Maps as a “Cyber Criminal Area.”

Where Are They?

The hub is about 25 kilometres from the city of Myawaddy, an area run not by any government but by an armed group. This is the same lawless pocket where other Sri Lankans were previously rescued after painstaking negotiations and backchannel deals.

How Does It Happen?

It’s a familiar playbook: recruiters dangle attractive overseas jobs in IT or online services, desperate youth scrape together money to leave the country, and then—once across the border—they’re trapped. Instead of laptops and coding, they’re handed scripts for online scams and threatened if they resist.

A Worrying Trend

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry has been warning about the rise of job scams targeting tech-savvy youth. The victims are often underemployed graduates or dropouts looking for quick opportunities abroad. Instead, they end up trafficked into what amounts to digital slavery.

Official Response

Authorities have not yet confirmed how many Sri Lankans are currently trapped, but rescue operations in the past were long and difficult. Each case involves not only diplomacy but also negotiations with armed groups and cross-border cooperation.

 Sri Lanka’s brightest young tech minds are being sucked into the dark underworld of global cybercrime, run from jungle compounds and armed enclaves. And as long as desperation for jobs continues at home, the traffickers will keep finding new recruits.