Myanmar scam: A victim's story
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2025
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We hear from a Sri Lankan woman who was trafficked and forced to conduct illegal online activity, including cyber fraud against vulnerable victims.
Aneka Boram is one of thousands of people who've recently escaped from so-called scam centres. She talks about her captivity and describes the harsh punishments and conditions she was forced to work in.
The scam centres are offices inside Myanmar or Cambodia, where people have been forced to work scamming internet users from around the world.
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Presented and produced by Ed Butler
(Image: Aneka Boram)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, I'm Ed Butler. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. Today, it is a |
| 0:08.4 | program with a bit of a difference. We're about to hear from a woman who is one of thousands of people |
| 0:14.3 | who've recently escaped from so-called scam centres. These are offices inside Myanmar or Cambodia, |
| 0:20.3 | where workers have been forced to rip off |
| 0:22.9 | internet users from around the world. She describes her captivity and the harsh punishments and |
| 0:29.9 | conditions she was forced to endure there as well as her work as a scammer. |
| 0:35.6 | He was a very old person. |
| 0:41.9 | I scammed him more than 38,000 USD. |
| 0:46.5 | He was like bankrupt and he was still trusting. |
| 0:49.9 | Even now, I feel like crying. |
| 0:52.6 | Like we didn't have any option. |
| 0:54.7 | If we didn't do, we are getting beat. |
| 0:57.2 | This woman's name is Annika Boram. |
| 0:58.6 | She's from Sri Lanka. |
| 1:01.9 | And hers is an extraordinary story. |
| 1:07.7 | Surviving life both as a victim and an enforced perpetrator of crime. |
| 1:10.1 | This is Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 1:23.2 | It was 2023. I see a WhatsApp status of my best friend's husband, saying there's data entry jobs in Thailand. |
| 1:32.4 | Anna Kiburam is now 35 years old. Two years ago, she had a job in Sri Lanka as the secretary to a company boss. |
| 1:41.9 | But the financial crisis there and rising prices meant that the offer of a legitimate-sounding IT job abroad had to be taken seriously. |
| 1:47.0 | The monthly salary will be about $1,200. |
| 1:51.6 | You will get accommodation, food, everything. |
... |
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