Over 100 Kenyans Still Trapped in Myanmar Scam Centres Despite Mass Rescues

More than 100 Kenyans remain trapped in cybercrime scam centres in Myanmar, detained without means of escape after being lured abroad with promises of lucrative digital marketing jobs, according to reports published this morning.

The victims, many of them young graduates and job seekers, were promised monthly salaries of KSh 100,000 and other enticing benefits. Instead, they found themselves imprisoned in remote compounds along the Myanmar-Thailand border, forced to run online scams including cryptocurrency fraud and identity theft under threat of torture.

The scale of the crisis

Since 2022, Kenyan authorities have rescued 751 nationals from Myanmar alone, according to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi in testimony before the Senate Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare. Of these, 615 have been repatriated home. But 39 Kenyans are now serving one-year prison sentences at Hpa-An Prison after being charged under Myanmar's 1947 Immigration Act for illegal entry and involvement in online scamming.

According to the State Department for Diaspora Affairs, at least 357 Kenyans escaped from scam compounds between October 2025 and January 2026 alone, highlighting the continuing scale of the problem. Fresh details published this week confirm that while 253 of those escapees have been brought home, nearly 200 Kenyans remain scattered across Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia awaiting repatriation.

"We are told that there are still Kenyans in Myanmar languishing there without jobs," Labour and Social Protection Principal Secretary Joseph Motari told Parliament's Social Protection Committee. Budget cuts to his ministry have left a KSh 60 million shortfall in the funds needed to bring stranded nationals home.

Currently, 198 Kenyans are awaiting repatriation from Southeast Asia. Of these, 66 are held in Thailand's Immigration Detention Centres, while 129 are in shelters in Myanmar. The Kenyan embassy is also assisting three nationals at a Caritas Catholic safe house in Cambodia.

How the trafficking networks operate

The victims are recruited by rogue agents in Kenya who advertise plum job offers abroad. Many travel through irregular routes—via Malaysia, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia—to evade scrutiny at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, according to Mudavadi.

Once in Myanmar, criminal syndicates confiscate their passports, impose inflated travel and processing fees that create debt bondage, and force them to work long hours running online scams with little or no pay. Survivors have reported torture including electrocution, confinement, and being denied food for failing to meet traffickers' demands.

"I am so grateful to be back home, despite returning with nothing but scars," one survivor told Awareness Against Human Trafficking (HAART) Kenya, the NGO that has partnered with the Kenyan Embassy in Thailand to facilitate rescues. By April 2025, HAART had brought 153 Kenyans home from Myanmar's scam centres.

The United Nations estimates that over 50,000 people from more than 40 countries are trapped in similar forced-criminality operations across Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar where civil unrest and unstable governance have allowed criminal networks to flourish.

The imprisoned and the dead

The 39 Kenyans now imprisoned at Hpa-An Prison were arrested following a military raid on an illegal scam operation in January 2026. Initially cleared for repatriation, they were instead transferred to the remote prison—controlled by militias—and charged in court on January 21.

"They were slapped with a one-year jail term with labour," Mudavadi told the Senate. "Myanmar is known to extend amnesty to prisoners during public holidays." Access to the prisoners remains limited due to the prison's location, though the Kenyan mission has partnered with a local NGO to provide essentials and facilitate communication with families through letters.

At least three Kenyans have died in the scam compounds—two from illness and one woman after a forced abortion, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

What comes next

The Kenyan government says it is maintaining diplomatic engagement with Myanmar and Thai authorities. Between March and November 2025, Kenya carried out several evacuations, rescuing hundreds of people. But some returnees later went back to the compounds, and in November 2025, Mudavadi warned that some pose cybersecurity threats after re-engaging in criminal activity.

He cited the case of Maxwell Mutiso, who re-entered Myanmar via Malaysia and Thailand after being deported, and was later arrested at Mae Sot Airport for using a forged immigration stamp.

The State Department for Diaspora Affairs has urged Kenyans to verify job offers abroad through official channels and report suspicious recruitment agencies. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations' Transnational Organised Crime Unit is currently handling 87 active trafficking cases in court.

For families with relatives trapped in Myanmar, the wait continues. The government says it has set aside funds for repatriation, but budget constraints and the complexity of operating in conflict zones have slowed the process. Kenya is also providing consular support to Burundians and Ugandans whose countries lack diplomatic missions in Thailand.

Reporting drawn from Kenyans.co.ke, Daily Nation, Eastleigh Voice, The East African.