Another 109 Bangladeshisrescuedfrom cyber scam compounds in Cambodia returned home early today, taking the number of returnees from the country to 583 in June.
They arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) around 1:25am on Thai Airways flight TG-339, according to a press release issued by BRAC Migration Programme.
With their return, total 362 Bangladeshis have come back from Cambodia over the past four days.
At the airport, the returnees received emergency assistance, counselling and financial support to travel home under a joint initiative of Civil Aviation Security, the Expatriates' Welfare Desk and BRAC Migration Programme.
One returnee from Lakshmipur said a recruiting agency and a group of brokers had promised him a job as a computer operator at a company in Cambodia. He paid Tk 5.30 lakh for the job and obtained clearance from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).
However, after arriving in Cambodia, he was issued only a one-month visit visa. Bangladeshi brokers received him at the airport but never arranged a valid work permit. Instead, he said, he was sold to a cyber scam compound.
Another returnee alleged that workers were forced to carry out online scams targeting foreign nationals. Those who failed to meet targets were beaten, physically tortured and subjected to electric shocks.
"There was a separate torture cell inside the scam compound," he claimed.
He added that they were freed after Cambodian law enforcement agencies recently raided the compound, prompting members of the scam ring to flee.
Shariful Hasan, associate director of BRAC Migration Programme and Youth Platform, described cyber scam operations as a dangerous form of human trafficking.
"The return of 583 Bangladeshis in June proves that a large number of Bangladeshis have fallen victim to this trafficking network," he said, adding that several returnees have already filed cases.
"Bangladeshis are taken abroad with promises of high-paying jobs and then forced into online fraud. Those who fail to meet targets are subjected to physical and mental torture," he added.
Shariful urged authorities to identify the brokers, recruiting agencies and international trafficking networks involved and bring them to justice through proper investigations.
According to BMET data, 15,921 Bangladeshis travelled to Cambodia for work over the past one and a half years.
However, returnees claimed that thousands of Bangladeshis remain stranded in inhumane conditions after failing to secure jobs or falling victim to fraudulent recruitment.
Many of them, they said, had been lured with promises of high-paying employment.
Earlier this year, eight Bangladeshis returned home from a cyber scam centre in Myanmar on January 22, while another 18 returned on September 19, 2025. They too had been lured with promises of lucrative jobs and taken to Myanmar through the Thailand border, the press release said.
On reaching there, their passports and mobile phones were confiscated and they were forced to engage in cyber fraud.
BRAC said traffickers use fake websites, emails, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and other online platforms to lure jobseekers with advertisements for positions such as computer operator, call centre executive and customer service officer.
Victims are then taken to scam compounds, held at gunpoint and forced to commit online fraud, it added.
The organisation urged people seeking jobs in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam to verify the authenticity of job offers, employers and visa types, and to check information with the relevant government authorities before travelling.
