Category World News

Bokeo province, Laos – Khobby was living in Dubai last year when he received an intriguing message about a well-paying job working online in a far-flung corner of Southeast Asia.

The salary was good, he was told. He would be working on computers in an office.

The company would even foot the bill for his relocation to join the firm in Laos – a country of 7.6 million people nestled between China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

With the company paying for his flights, Khobby decided to take the plunge.

But his landing in Laos was anything but smooth.

Khobby discovered that the promised dream job was rapidly becoming a nightmare when his Ghanaian passport was taken on arrival by his new employers.

With his passport confiscated and threats of physical harm ever present, he endured months working inside a compound which he could not leave.

The 21-year-old had become the latest victim of booming online cyber-scam operations in Southeast Asia – an industry that is believed to have enslaved tens of thousands of workers lured with the promise of decently paid jobs in online sales and the information technology industry.

“When I got there, I saw a lot of Africans in the office, with a lot of phones,” Khobby told Al Jazeera, recounting his arrival in Laos.

“Each person had 10 phones, 15 phones. That was when I realised this was a scamming job,” he said.

The operation Khobby found himself working for was in a remote area in northwest Laos, where a casino city has been carved out of a patch of jungle in the infamous “Golden Triangle” region – the lawless border zone between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand that has long been a centre for global drug production and trafficking.

He said he was forced to work long days and sleep in a dormitory with five other African workers at night during the months he spent at the scam centre in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone.

Khobby recounted the original message he received from an acquaintance encouraging him to take the job in Laos.

“My company is hiring new staff”, he said, adding that he was told the salary was $1,200 per month.

“He told me it was data entry.”

Casino city

The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ) where Khobby was lured to for work operates as an autonomous territory within Laos.

Leased from Laotian authorities by Chinese national Zhao Wei, whom the US government has designated the leader of a transnational criminal organisation, life in the GTSEZ is monitored by a myriad of security cameras and protected by its own private security force.

Clocks are set to Beijing time. Signage is predominantly in Chinese, and China’s yuan is the dominant and preferred currency.

Central to the GTSEZ city-state is Zhao Wei’s Kings Romans casino, which the United States Treasury also described as a hub for criminal activity such as money laundering, narcotics and wildlife trafficking.

During a recent visit to the zone by Al Jazeera, Rolls Royce limousines ferried gamblers to some of the city’s casinos while workers toiled on the construction of an elaborate and expansive Venice-style waterway just a stone’s throw from the Mekong river.

While luxury construction projects – including the recently completed Bokeo International Airport – speak to the vast amounts of money flowing through this mini casino city, it is inside the grey, nondescript tower blocks dotted around the economic zone where the lucrative online scam trade occurs.

Within these tower blocks, thousands of trafficked workers from all over the world – just like Khobby – are reported to spend up to 17 hours a day working online to dupe unsuspecting “clients” into parting with their money.

The online swindles are as varied as investing money in fake business portfolios to paying false tax bills that appear very real and from trading phoney cryptocurrency to being caught in online romance traps.

Anti-trafficking experts say most of the workers are deceived into leaving their home countries – such are nearby China, Thailand and Indonesia or as far away as Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Ethiopia – with the promise of decent salaries.

Online ‘butchering’

Khobby told how his “data entry” job was, in fact, a scam known in the cybercrime underworld as “pig butchering”.

This is where victims are identified, cold-called or messaged directly by phone in a bid to establish a relationship. Trust is built up over time to the point where an initial investment is made by the intended victim. This can be, at first, a small amount of the victim’s money or emotions in the case of fake online relationships.

There are small rewards on the investments, Khobby explained, telling how those in the industry refer to their victims as pigs who are being “fattened” by trust built up with the scammers.

That fattening continues until a substantial monetary investment is made in whatever scam the victim has become part of. Then they are swiftly “butchered”, which is when the scammers get away with the ill-gotten gains taken from their victims.

Once the butchering is done, all communications are cut with the victims and the scammers disappear without leaving a digital trace.

According to experts, cyber-scamming inside the GTSEZ boomed during the 2019 and 2020 COVID lockdowns when restrictions on travel meant international visitors could not access the Kings Romans casino.

In the years since, the cyber-scam industry has burgeoned, physically transcended borders to become one of the dominant profit-making illicit activities in the region, not only in the GTSEZ in Laos but also in neighbouring Cambodia and in conflict-ridden Myanmar.

Though not as elaborate as the GTSEZ, purpose-built cyber-scam “compounds” have proliferated in Myanmar’s border areas with Thailand.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that cyber-scamming in Southeast Asia generates tens of billions annually, while the United States Institute of Peace equates the threat to that of the destructive fentanyl trade.

“Cyber-scam operations have significantly benefitted from developments in the fintech industry, including cryptocurrencies, with apps being directly developed for use at [cyber-scam] compounds to launder money,” said Kristina Amerhauser, of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.

“Victims and perpetrators are spread across different countries, money is laundered offshore, operations are global,” Amerhauser told Al Jazeera, explaining that the sophisticated technology used in cyber-scamming, along with its international reach, has made it extremely difficult to combat.

Complicit victims?

About 260 trafficked scam-centre workers were recently rescued in a cross-border operation between Thailand and Myanmar. Yet, even in rare instances such as this when trafficked workers are freed, they still face complications due to their visa status and their own potential complicity in criminal activity.

Khobby – who is now back in Dubai – told Al Jazeera that while he was coerced into working in the GTSEZ, he did actually receive the promised $1,200 monthly salary, and he had even signed a six-month “contract” with the Chinese bosses who ran the operation.

Richard Horsey, International Crisis Group’s senior adviser on Myanmar, said Khobby’s experience reflected a changing trend in recruitment by the criminal organisations running the scam centres.

“Some of the more sophisticated gangs are getting out of the human trafficking game and starting to trick workers to come,” Horsey said.

“People don’t like to answer an advert for criminal scamming, and it’s hard to advertise that. But once they’re there, it’s like – actually, we will pay you. We may have taken your passport, but there is a route to quite a lucrative opportunity here and we will give you a small part of that,” he said.

The issue of salaries paid to coerced and enslaved workers complicates efforts to repatriate trafficking victims, who may be considered complicit criminals due to their status as “paid” workers in the scam centres, said Eric Heintz, from the US-based anti-trafficking organisation International Justice Mission (IJM).

“We know of individuals being paid for the first few months they were inside, but then it tapers off to the point where they are making little – if any – money,” Heintz said, describing how victims become “trapped in this cycle of abuse unable to leave the compound”.

“This specific aspect was a challenge early on with the victim identity process – when an official would ask if an individual previously in the scam compound was paid, the victim would answer that initially he or she was. That was enough for some officials to not identify them as victims,” Heintz said.

Some workers have also been sold between criminal organisations and moved across borders to other scam centres, he said.

“We have heard of people being moved from a compound in one country to one in another – for example from Myawaddy to the GTSEZ or Cambodia and vice versa,” he said.

Khobby said many of the workers in his “office” had already had experience with scamming in other compounds and in other countries.

“Most of them had experience. They knew the job already,” he said.

“This job is going on in a lot of places – Thailand, Laos, Myanmar. They were OK because they got paid. They had experience and they knew what they were doing,” he added.

‘What are we here for? Money!’

High-school graduate Jojo said she was working as a maid in Kampala, Uganda, when she received a message on the Telegram messaging app about an opportunity in Asia that involved being sponsored to do computer studies as part of a job in IT.

“I was so excited,” Jojo recounted, “I told my mum about the offer.”

Jojo told how she was sent an airline ticket, and described how multiple people met her along the way as she journeyed from Kampala to Laos. Eventually Jojo arrived in the same scam operation as Khobby.

She described an atmosphere similar to a fast-paced sales centre, with Chinese bosses shouting encouragement when a victim had been ‘butchered’ and their money stolen, telling how she witnessed people scammed for as much as $200,000.

“They would shout a lot, in Chinese – ‘What are we here for? Money!’”

On top of adrenaline, the scam operation also ran on fear, Jojo said.

Workers were beaten if they did not meet targets for swindling money. Mostly locked inside the building where she worked and lived; Jojo said she was only able to leave the scam operation once in the four months she was in the GTSEZ, and that was to attend a local hospital after falling ill.

Fear of the Chinese bosses who ran the operation not only permeated their workstations but in the dormitory where they slept.

“They told us ‘Whatever happens in the room, we are listening’,” she said, also telling how her co-workers were beaten when they failed to meet targets.

“They stopped them from working. They stopped them from coming to get food. They were not getting results. They were not bringing in the money they wanted. So they saw them as useless,” she said.

“They were torturing them every day.”

Khobby and Jojo said they were moved to act in case it was their turn next.

When they organised a strike to demand better treatment, their bosses brought in Laotian police and several of the strikers – including Jojo and Khobby – were taken to a police station where they were told they were sacked.

They were also told they would not be paid what was owed in wages and their overseers refused to give their passports back.

Khobby said he was left stranded without a passport and the police refused to help.

“This is not about only the Chinese people,” Khobby said. “Even in Vientiane, they have immigration offices who are involved. They are the ones giving the visas. When I got to Laos, it was the immigration officer who was waiting for me. I didn’t even fill out any form,” he said.

With help from the Ghanaian embassy, Khobby and Jojo were eventually able to retrieve their passports, and with assistance from family and friends, they returned home.

The IJM’s Heintz, said that target countries for scammer recruitment – such as those in Africa – need better awareness of the dangers of trafficking.

“There needs to be better awareness at the source country level of the dangers associated with these jobs,” he said.

Reflecting on what led him to work up the courage to lead a strike in the scam centre, Khobby considered his childhood back in Ghana.

“I was a boy who was raised in a police station. My grandpa was a police commander. So in that aspect, I’m very bold, I have that courage. I like giving things a try and I like taking risks,” he said.

Jojo told Al Jazeera how she continues to chat online with friends who are still trapped in scam centres in Laos, and who have told her that new recruits arrive each day in the GTSEZ.

Her friends want to get out of the scam business and the economic zone in Laos. But it is not so easy to leave, Jojo said.

There have been a lot of dollars spent. Some of the best players in the world have left and gained. Paris Saint-Germain has remained agonizingly out of reach for the Champions League trophy.

That might soon change.

Inter Milan will have to play in the Munich final on Saturday, one game away from European club football’s most prestigious prize, the Qatari-owned team.

Coach Luis Enrique stated on Friday, “It’s my goal to win the Champions League title for PSG.” That is the gift I want to give the city, the club, and the people.

Inter Milan respect PSG the “utmost” and respect them.

PSG is the favorite with a thrilling young team that has outperformed Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City. It seems like the time has come for it to end.

Inter, however, defeated a ruthless Barcelona in an epic semifinal with a 7-6 aggregate win against a wily opponent in its second final in three years.

Our opponent, according to Inter captain Lautaro Martinez, “we have the utmost respect for them.” However, we want to hit them where it hurts with the weapons we have.

PSG has its own warning signs.

PSG’s successful run to the final has allowed them to shift away from the bling culture of star signings and concentrate on emerging French talent.

Without ever obtaining the trophy it so desperately craves, PSG, which has been owned by Qatar Sports Investments since 2011, signed some of the biggest names in the game, including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Without Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe, PSG appears to be a more cohesive team now that Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe are all gone.

PSG captain Marquinhos remarked, “It’s about being a team, not a group of individuals.” I adore this team,” she said. Being a part of the squad is a pleasure.

PSG’s expensive Inter Milan rivals

The transformation of PSG has still cost.

In a squad that was assembled at unprecedented expense, players like Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were collectively signed for an estimated $ 240 million.

In the meantime, Inter has been wise in the market, buying older players and signing free agents to create a team that has reached two Champions League finals in three years (losing to Man City in 2023) and won an Italian title there.

PSG’s only previous final was against Bayern Munich in 2020, which ended with a 1-0 defeat.

It was a semifinalist in 2021 and 2024. President Nasser Al-Khelaifi made the decision to alter his transfer strategy after the round of 16s in 2022 and 2023.

Inter, the three-time champion, has advanced beyond the round of 16 for the second time since 2011 this year.

A champions league medal is missing for the winner of the World Cup.

Under Jose Mourinho, Inter last won the Champions League in 2010.

Dembele has scored 30 goals all season for PSG, including a run of 24 in 18 games from December to March, making him one of Europe’s top players this season.

Kvaratskhelia’s signing from Napoli in January caused a turnaround in PSG’s fortunes in the Champions League, where it was in danger of losing the division.

Before making the move, the Georgian forward was long regarded as one of Europe’s top talents, adding a new dimension to the already exciting PSG attack.

The engine is the midfielders Vitinha and Joao Neves, who hungrily hunt down the ball when they are out of the ball and springing attacks with the speed of their passing.

Lautaro Martinez, the club’s all-time top scorer in the Champions League this year, is Inter’s standout player and a World Cup winner.

“I’ve won numerous awards, but I’m missing the Champions League.” I’m thrilled to be a part of another final. The Argentinian forward stated, “We want to have the perfect game and bring the trophy back to Milan.”

Inter reach the second final of PSG’s three-year relationship with destiny.

Denzel Dumfries, the defender, scored twice in the opening match at the Nou Camp, and goalkeeper Yann Sommer saved the tie for Inter in the second leg.

Luis Enrique won 12 significant awards while playing for the Catalan club and PSG, including the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015.

He would become the seventh coach to have won the Champions League or European Cup with two different teams if his French champions triumph on Saturday. Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, and Mourinho are on the list.

Exactly ten years after his previous title, Victory would follow.

“I feel calm of mind.” Since the last time, Luis Enrique said, I have ten years more experience. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to compete in a final and create history.”

Simone Inzaghi of Inter hopes to win his second Champions League title after the team’s two-year defeat to City.

Inter was the underdog in the past, and Guardiola’s City was almost as close as she was now.

The players on the field are the subject, according to Inzaghi, “Matches don’t come down to wage bills or turnover.” We performed flawlessly two years ago when we were incredibly underdogs.

I had a dream about competing in the Champions League final. Although I didn’t play as a player, I did so because of this group of players, who helped me reach the top two finals.

Gaza is the “hungriest place on Earth,” according to the UN, as Israel continues to impede humanitarian aid from reaching the Strip, where the entire Palestinian population is famine-stricken, and Israeli troops relentlessly bomb the besieged enclave.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a spokesperson, reported on Friday that “catastrophic hunger” is currently affecting 2.3 million people in Gaza.

Laerk remarked that “Gaza” has a “drip-feeding system” and that the “limited number of truckloads coming in [is] drip-feeding food.”

According to him, “The aid operation that we have ready to roll is being put in a functioning straitjacket, making it one of the most obstructed aid operations in recent history and not just in the world today.”

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a new, shadowy NGO supported by Israel and the United States, is in charge of what lack of aid is entering the region.

Sources at Gaza hospitals reported to Al Jazeera on Friday that 20 patients had been shot by Israeli soldiers as they fought a GHF aid distribution point to get food.

The third distribution site, which is situated close to Israel’s Netzarim Corridor bordering the territory, was established after two distribution points were established in Rafah, in the south of the country.

Around the clock, armed surveillance is carried out. “People are telling us that the GHF’s sites are a few meters from the Israeli military’s bases. According to Hani Mahmoud, a journalist for Al Jazeera from Gaza City, “they can see the tanks and they can see the armored vehicles.”

Earlier this week, ten people were killed while attempting to gain access to food distribution centers, with many of the victims seen being herded into cage-like lines in images. Palestinians must take the risk of Israeli fire and military fire if they try to aid their families in any way.

“There have also been reports of forced disappearances. Many families reported that many of their children, or at least one member of their families, vanished while trying to get food at the sites, Mahmoud said.

UN officials and the humanitarian community have publicly denounced the aid delivery plan, accusing it of supporting Israel’s war goals by forcibly displaced Palestinians under the guise of aid.

If Israel would grant access to aid and let the organizations with decades of experience manage the flow, critics claim that Gaza’s currently insufficient aid could be safely increased.

Doctors Without Borders Secretary-General Christopher Lockyear said, “Food is not being distributed where it’s needed most because this dangerous and reckless approach only targets areas where Israeli forces choose to amass civilians.” This means that the elderly and those with disabilities have essentially no chance of getting the food they so desperately need.

At least 20% of households in the region where there is a severe lack of food are declared famine. At famine-levels of deprivation, 30% of children experience acute malnutrition, and at least four out of every 10,000 children per day die from starvation or a malnutrition-linked disease. According to OCHA, Gaza is currently a country where at least one in five people are starving.

It’s “safe to say there is famine” in Gaza, according to UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri. According to Fakri, Israel is using aid “as bait to woo people out of the north and into militarized zones,” according to Fakiri.

When Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2, the humanitarian situation in Gaza had already become catastrophic. Israeli authorities announced they would allow the Strip’s population to receive only minimal food and medicine after growing international pressure. However, crucial supplies continue to go unreachable.

France’s threat of sanctions

Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, emphasized the condemnation of Israel on Friday. If the Israeli government doesn’t address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Paris may “agree sanctions.”

Macron said during a visit to Singapore on Friday that the international community must not remain passive while Gaza’s Palestinians are dealing with an “unfathomable” hunger crisis.

We will have to “harden our collective position” if there is no action in the coming hours and days in accordance with the humanitarian situation, he continued, suggesting that France might consider imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers.

As the ceasefire is not yet known, there are daily deaths of Palestinians.

At least 30 people have been killed in attacks in Khan Younis, northern Jabalia, and southern Deir el-Balah since Friday morning when they were attacked.

In addition to expanding its military presence on the ground, the Israeli army has issued new forced displacement orders for five northern Gazan towns. Nearly 200, 000 people have been displaced in Gaza in the last two weeks as a result of Israel’s displacement orders, according to a UN official.

Meanwhile, there were no realyy hopes for the elusive truce. Hamas announced on Friday that it is currently reviewing a new US ceasefire proposal that Israel claims has approved but which, in its current form, will only lead to “the continuation of killing and famine” in Gaza.

Israel “signed off” on the ceasefire proposal, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday, according to Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, who had given it to Hamas for consideration.

Trump asserted that he anticipates an announcement from his administration later on Friday, or perhaps tomorrow.

He told reporters from the Oval Office, “We have a chance of that.”

Elon Musk will no longer be a part of the government, according to Donald Trump, president of the United States.

Trump praised Musk for his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a program designed to reduce federal bureaucracy and spending, while speaking from the Oval Office on Friday.

Elon has worked tirelessly to lead the most extensive and profound government reform program in recent memory, according to Trump.

He attributed Musk to “a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and called his service “unmatched in modern history.”

The president, however, also assured reporters that DOGE would continue its work even after Musk left.

According to Trump, “DOGE is] helping to detect fraud, reduce waste, and modernize broken and out-of-date systems” under Elon’s guidance.

The two men’s joint appearance comes as they try to soften reports of a growing rift, particularly after Musk criticized Trump’s signature budget bill on CBS News. Additionally, it coincides with a report from the New York Times claiming that Musk has experienced alopecia and personal turmoil behind the scenes.

During his Oval Office visit, Musk declined to comment on the Times report. Additionally, he avoided making comments about rumors that his departure was related to Tesla’s stock prices falling.

He instead pointed out that without complying with stricter disclosure and ethics requirements, he cannot work for the Trump administration for more than 130 days.

He also made a point of promoting his work with DOGE and voicing his opposition to Trump’s policies on the left.

Musk, who was clad in a black T-shirt with the phrase “The Dogefather,” written in the style of the gangster film The Godfather, said, “This is not the end of DOGE, but rather the beginning.” “DoGE will only become stronger over time,” said the team’s manager.

Trump, however, made it clear that his friendship with the billionaire, who was a staunch supporter of his re-election campaign in 2024, would continue.

“Elon is not departing,” really. According to Trump, “he’s going to be back and forth.”

Uncertain accounting

Despite White House assertions about its efficacy, DOGE’s cost-savings rate has remained unclear.

The panel claimed on Friday that it had saved an estimated $ 175 billion in savings from “asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletions, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.”

However, DOGE’s accuracy and method have been repeatedly questioned. Less than half of the claimed figure is actually added up using the only accounting that was made available to the public.

The actual amount is much lower, according to a Reuters report released on Friday. Using US Treasury summaries, Reuters discovered that only $ 9 billion in federal spending had been reduced, despite the fact that some savings may take longer to be reflected in the Treasury Department’s data.

Despite what Musk originally intended, all of those figures fall far short of Musk’s original goal of saving $2 trillion.

When questioned about the discrepancy on Friday, Musk reaffirmed that saving $1 trillion would continue to be a long-term goal.

He said, “I’m confident that we’ll see a trillion dollars of savings and a trillion dollars of waste and fraud reduction.”

However, some have questioned whether DOGE will maintain its vigor after Musk leaves.

With the implementation of sweeping changes to the federal government, Musk and DOGE have long drawn public criticism. Organizations like the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have seen their funding and staffing cut since Trump began his second term as president in January.

Employees, contractors, labor organizations, and state officials have filed lawsuits to stop DOGE’s efforts, with varying degrees of success.

There are also rumors that Musk and members of Trump’s cabinet engaged in verbal altercations after Musk leaves.

Tesla dealership protests have spread all over the country as a result of Musk’s foray into politics. In the first three months of the year, Tesla’s profits dropped by 71 percent, with shareholders calling for Musk’s return to work.

When a reporter inquired whether Musk’s time in the government was “worth it,” he was cautious. He stated that DOGE had become viewed as a “boogeyman” and was at fault for any attempts to reform the federal government.

He reaffirmed his commitment to serving as the president’s “friend and adviser” and said it was worthwhile.

Israel’s new aid system is criticized by Arab states as illegal because it is alleged to be a weapon of Gaza’s hunger. According to UAE envoy Mohamed Abushahab, who spoke to 22 Arab League members at the UN, “Starvation is being used as a weapon of war.”