When an online job search becomes a trap for the unwary

Enticing promises ultimately lead to many workers falling victim to

human trafficking

"It was all my fault, my stupidity in accepting the job as a scammer since
I needed to run away from my life after dealing with some personal
issues," says Santoso, an English literature graduate.

He had intended to pursue a higher education degree by applying for a

master's in film or a working holiday visa to Melbourne and to pay for it
he accepted an "administrative job" offering a monthly salary of Rp 17
million in the Golden Triangle area of Laos.
From April 2022 to November 2022, he operated in Bokeo province, which he
described as a "mafia aquarium”. He worked as a fraudster conning people in
the United States into investing in a fake crypto scheme. After a few months
he was sickened by his job but was forced to pay a ransom amounting to Rp
80 million (US$5,374) to his employers to escape. If not they threatened to
toss him into the Mekong River. All of his savings went toward the ransom
demanded by his company.

The number of victims of such illegal job postings increased considerably

during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Yusuf Ardabili, a legal aid staffer
at Migrant Care, an NGO that supports Indonesian migrant workers. He
mentioned several sorts of occupations that are traps for Indonesians, ranging
from “administrative positions” in the online gambling industry to employment
as domestic servants.

Yusuf confirms that most people are unaware they are likely to work for a
bogus company or become con artists but they are often desperate to find a
job. According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Indonesia's unemployment rate
stood at 5.86 percent in August 2022, leaving at least 8.42 million unemployed
across Indonesia. As a result, many people, especially the unemployed and
underemployed, turn to social media for opportunities but the advent of social
networking has brought nightmares rather than rewards.