Rescued from hell! A Sri Lankan recalls the darkest days inside a Myanmar cyber slave camp

“One needs to be careful when they decide to work overseas. Don’t work while on tourist visa”- says Aneka Borham who had the good fortune to return to Sri Lanka and relate her horrifying experience at a Myanmar cyber slave camp

Batch of 27 Sri Lankans rescued by IOM and GoSL

Crossing a border using a ferry service

“All these transactions are done using cryptocurrency. We help customers to transfer money from eBay to their wallets in various cryptocurrencies. From that we help them to transfer the money into their bank accounts and they send us screenshots. From that we get to know their bank balance as well. Our target is to earn 15,000 USDT every month. But that’s an impossible target. One month I achieved 38,000 US$ perhaps because it was Ramadan and I asked my family to pray for me”
- Aneka Borham

Aneka Borham had dreams of building her own house and to live a better life. But the salary she earned as a company secretary wasn’t sufficient to fulfill her dreams. While hunting for jobs she had come across a social media post calling for data entry operators in Thailand. The post was shared by her best friend’s husband and Aneka hadn’t had second thoughts on inquiring more about this opportunity. During the initial inquiry she was promised a monthly salary of US$ 1200 and the company hiring new recruits was expected to look after their medical expenses while providing with food and accommodation. She had thought it was a good offer and continued with the documentation. But little did she know that she was being lured into a scamming operation at a cyber slave camp in Myanmar. This is Anneka’s story. 

 
A life-changing decision

“It was my best friend’s husband who recommended this job opportunity and I didn’t have doubts about what I was getting myself into,” she said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror. “I spent the greater part of my childhood with this best friend of mine. We went to school together, spent after school together and I trusted them a lot. Everything was based on trust,” she recalled.

After Aneka agreed for the job, the friend’s husband (agent) had asked her to pay an initial sum of Rs. 300,000 for documentation purposes. Aneka was told that she only had to work for six months and thereafter they would be transferred to Dubai. So all this while Aneka still believed that she was going for a job in Thailand and not elsewhere. “I arranged the money, but I paid only Rs. 200,000. It took about one to two months to complete the documentation. Since they were silent I also continued with my work. Then suddenly he called and asked me to get ready. I just had five hours to handover the laptops, phones and everything to my office and complete the resignation process. It was quite ad hoc, but I didn’t have doubts even at that time,” she said. 

Around the same time, Aneka had to face an online interview. “It was conducted via Telegram and I didn’t see who was on the other side. But they asked me to come on video. Then they sent me a link and asked me to type. Their only requirement was to have fast typing skills and a good knowledge of English. To understand our English knowledge they asked us to talk on the topic of Myself. Most of the others managed to pass the English test because they were given this topic. Anybody can manage to talk about Myself. Then I received the documents and I trusted my friends so much that I didn’t even go through the documents they sent. They even sent me an offer letter, but all these documents were forged,” she added. 

Chaos at the airport 

Aneka left the country in October 2023. While at the airport the following day, Aneka was joined by three other young boys – two from Gampaha and one from Kurunegala. Even though she had wanted to ask them certain questions, Aneka decided to keep quiet as she felt that the boys were in a tense mood. “We started talking to each other at the check-in because our documents were incomplete. We got tickets from BIA to Bangkok, but Bangkok was the transit. We had to answer so many questions from the immigration officials and the other three people were terrified. So I called the agents and asked them to send the rest of the documentation. It was at that point that they mentioned that we have to land in Yangon. But we didn’t even know where Yangon is and we didn’t have time to check it either. When I questioned them they said it is also in Thailand. They asked us to argue with immigration officials and to somehow convince them to send us. But we didn’t argue. The others were very young and one of them fainted. They weren’t literate enough and I had to speak on their behalf. After enduring all the chaos, we boarded the flight just when they were closing the doors,” she recalled. 

First impressions 

Aneka and the group had been in Bangkok for about two hours and the boys had even brought their laptops. “After we landed in Yangon there was someone dressed in a blue coloured uniform to receive us at the airport. Our agents asked us to take a selfie at the airport and send it to them. The person who came to receive us at Yangon had that photo with him. Still we were confused and we thought the Company has sent someone to receive us. Even at that point we didn’t think that we were going in for a mess. He filled the immigration forms and the immigration officials didn’t even talk to us. After about ½ hour, a luxury van came to pick us. We had a hotel booking sent to us and we asked them where we were going. But they didn’t understand English. They denied our request to get WiFi. We travelled for about 3 hours and stopped at a filling station and changed vehicles. The driver of the next vehicle was a Myanmar monk. I asked him to provide us with some internet connection and he agreed to give hotspot. I immediately called my friend and told him what was happening. He asked me not to panic and that they would safely take us to the hotel,” she reminisced. 

Aneka recalled how the monk paid huge chunks of money at every checkpoint and spoke to military officials before entering a forest area. “There we saw people in army uniforms. We were scared and we didn’t know where we were going. All signboards were in their language. From there we were transferred to a defender with army personnel. They were armed with guns and during the entire journey their weapons were pointed at us. The three other boys panicked when they saw the weapons. I only remember the places we stopped because we had to travel some 8-12 hours at a stretch. Then we had to cross a huge river and our vehicle was taken on a boat. The other three boys were suffering a lot already. After crossing the river we had to wait for sometime and they wanted to travel after dusk. We saw a lot of containers and it looked like another border. We didn’t even know that there was an ongoing war in Myanmar and at each border the people who were escorting us had to change their uniforms. At the last checkpoint we had to go undercover and the escorts too were tensed. They indicated with gestures and sign language that if we made a fuss that we would be killed. Thereafter we were transferred to another luxury vehicle and were taken to our camp,” she said. 

The horrific life of a scammer 

After they reached their office they were greeted by some Chinese individuals inside a boardroom. But by that time the boys had already given up and they complained that they wanted to leave. It was at this point that Aneka realised that they were sold for US$ 8000. “The Chinese people said that if we can pay back the US$ 8000 then they would consider sending us back. We were in a state of shock. Then they took us to a restaurant inside and gave us meals. We didn’t have an appetite because we were scared. Then they took us to the rooms and gave us towels, shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes, washing powder etc. Thereafter we slept,” Aneka recalled. 

From the next day onwards, Aneka and her group had to work and it was only then that Aneka realised that their job was to engage in scamming. They were initially trained to handle the scamming site and their task was to convince customers to give them five stars. “They trained us for two weeks and then they gave a script. We had to chat with a customer for four days in order to build their trust. It was like a love chat (or pig-butchering in other words). There are different teams working on social media channels to obtain contacts of ‘potential’ customers. Those who had to get contacts of customers had a fixed salary and they were at more peace than us. But their targets were from 60-80. Our company collected contacts from Tik Tok. Other companies collected contacts from dating apps,” she continued. 

“Once we went there we realised that we don’t need English. You need English to communicate with the translators, but if you have Sinhala typing you can simply type the word and send the translation. If the customer is from Italy they will get our message from their respective language, so we didn’t have to bother much about language proficiency because we used Google translate,” she added.

The customers had to chat with one of three models who were also fake. “The models were made using AI although there are actual models working for the company as well. But we were not allowed to do sex chats. If a customer sends a message to that effect we block them. The employers don’t entertain such behaviour because their only target is to trap them into financial scams,” she explained. 

Pig-butchering 

“On the first day we get to know each other,” Aneka said, explaining how potential customers are trapped into the scam. “We talk about our likes and dislikes. We exchange pictures to see if the customer is wealthy or not. They train us to look at a picture and judge a person. But this can’t be done with one photo and therefore in order to obtain more photos we have to send more photos. On the second day we go for coffee with a friend and we have photos for that too. And then we ask customers whether they like coffee or tea? Then we ask whether they go alone or with friends. If they say friends then it’s understood that he has money to spend on friends. From the photos you also can judge whether they are going to a normal coffee shop or a fancy one. Then you ask whether they go to gym and we keep sharing photos. On the third day we get more details about their family, whether they are married, whether they have children, whether he has a car etc,” she recalled. 

According to Aneka, from the first day on wards they get as much information as possible to decide on whether they would continue the chat or drop it. “On the fourth day we ask for help. We say we have business meetings etc., and ask for help. For that we create an account for the customer on ePay. But sometimes we too get scammed. Some Turkish customers already know about these scams. All these transactions are done using cryptocurrency. We help customers to transfer money from eBay to their wallets in various cryptocurrencies. From that we help them to transfer the money into their bank accounts and they send us screenshots. From that we get to know their bank balance as well. Our target is to earn 15,000 USDT every month. But that’s an impossible target. One month I achieved 38,000 USDT perhaps because it was Ramadan and I asked my family to pray for me,” she laughed while recalling the experience. 

At the beginning Aneka was paid a monthly salary of 10,000 baht (1 Thai baht is around 8.45 LKR) and during the month she achieved double targets, she had received 40,000 baht. Payment schemes depend on their performance. But before long, Aneka had developed health complications. “I had asthma because it was a very dusty place. I was very sick and I couldn’t breathe. They had to take me outside to the Myanmar hospital to get oxygen. At that time I had my phone and I called my parents. I’m a diabetes patient and I have pressure as well. My diabetes levels were over 300 mg/dL and it wasn’t going down. A reading of more than 200 mg/dL indicates that you have high blood sugar levels. They had given a coma warning as well. The Chinese person who took me to the hospital explained my condition to the employers. If they see us idling they would come and slap us. From time to time I had blurry vision and they used to come near me. I said this is because of my medical condition and I asked them not to punish me. Even the doctors requested them to send me home,” she added. 

Punishment and torture 

Aneka said that the punishments and torture began after the first news item exposed the horrible conditions inside Myanmar’s cyber slave camps in December 2023. “Thereafter the management changed and there were some new Chinese people who took over the company. From sports punishments like squats etc., they started beating us with whips of different sizes and eventually with metal rods. I have been electrocuted and have passed out on so many occasions. If we didn’t perform well they would punish us. That wasn’t our problem because a lot of people are aware of these scams. Some would get scammed repeatedly. This is because we target men above 50 years of age, who are lonely and they like it when pretty girls spoke to them,” she recalled. 

Aneka had to work for close to 16 hours. “On some days, work was from 4.00pm to 9.00am the next day. We had two meal breaks, one at 3.00pm and the other at 10.00am. We got to eat chicken feet, pork, duck, turkey and other kinds of meat. The meals were tasteless and they didn’t add salt to the food. During the floods we couldn’t shower for 4-5 days. It was a horrible experience. We couldn’t use the toilets and there was no food or water. We had to collect rainwater to shower and to use the toilet. During the first flood we were trapped inside the mall. With my medical condition I had to bare the pain and not use the toilet. It was quite dirty. We brushed our teeth and showered using rainwater,” she recalled.

The boys and girls were kept in separate rooms and Aneka affirmed that there was no sexual abuse; refuting certain media reports. Initially, all 56 Sri Lankans had worked together, but after these cyber scam operations were exposed on television they were split into different groups. Their phones were taken away as they had taken photos and videos of the activities inside the cyber camps. 

Rescue operation 

After their children and spouses sent photos, videos and voice recordings describing the harrowing conditions inside Myanmar’ cyber slave camps, their parents and loved ones formed a group that continuously urged authorities to rescues their loved ones. After a continuous struggle, discussions, meetings and assurances, Aneka and the final group of 27 Sri Lankans were rescued on November 22, 2024. 

The Moroccans were the first to be rescued and Aneka recalled how the Moroccan government intervened with the support of the Thailand Government to block communication channels and rescue their citizens. “There were Filipino girls working with us in addition to people from India, Indonesia and Ethiopia,” Aneka recalled. 

It was Ven. Maligawila Assaji who had taken the initiative to rescue the individuals working at the cyber slave camp. “We crossed the border from Myanmar to Thailand by boat. We left with the clothes that we were wearing. They didn’t return our certificates, driving license, ID card, bank cards and passport. By the time I was rescued my passport had expired and I came back using an emergency passport. It was the Sri Lanka Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand that provided us tickets with clothes, sanitary items etc., and the International Organisation for Migration that provided us with tickets and facilitated the return journey” she said. 

“Money is not everything” 

Despite warnings from government authorities the Daily Mirror learned that 14 other Sri Lankans had reached Myanmar by the time the initial group of 56 Sri Lankans were rescued. Aneka urged people to be mindful about fake job opportunities that are being posted on social media. “There are no jobs in Thailand. People think Thailand is a nice place to work, but the reality is different. One needs to be careful when they decide to work overseas. Don’t work while on tourist visa. Go through the proper channels, get registered at the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment and make sure you have legit documentation. Even if your own brother or sister recommends you a job please double check. Our families had to go through some of the worst times in their life in order to rescue us. Don’t fall for money. I came back empty handed and I learned a good lesson,” she said in conclusion. 
Sometimes Aneka wakes up with flashbacks and nightmares, but she believes that she can bounce back stronger than before. When asked about her future aspirations, Aneka said that she already has a job offer, but that she is taking time to recover from the trauma.