The Phenomenon of Job Hunger and the Rise of Online Vacancy Fraud

Amidst a weakening economic situation and numerous instances of mass layoffs, online job scam schemes are also on the rise. The public is urged to remain vigilant against such schemes. This is because, during the period of February to March 2025 alone, a total of 699 individuals fell victim to these scams and had to be repatriated from Myanmar to their homeland.

One day, GC (33), a housewife residing in Tangerang Regency, Banten, suddenly received a message from a LinkedIn account. The message, which entered her private inbox, came from a professional user profile that appeared quite convincing.

The user's profile shows him as a headhunter from a company in Singapore. The company offering the job is in the online gaming (i-gaming) sector. The message offers a customer support job with the additional information that he is willing to be placed in Cambodia.

"In February, the account owner still sent me another message offering a customer support job. With the information that if accepted for the vacancy, I would be placed in Cambodia. My husband and I immediately suspected whether this was related to the online gambling business?," she said when contacted, Thursday (3/27/2025).

Although she already had a part-time job, this mother of one was tempted by the job vacancy being offered. How could she not be? The salary offered ranged from Rp 10 million to Rp 16 million per month. If she was willing to relocate to Cambodia, the employer would also cover the costs of airfare and accommodation.

However, because the job vacancy seemed suspicious, GC did not proceed to the next step. He was also contacted a second time by the employer's account, but he then chose to ignore it.

In recent times, job vacancy advertisements have been widely found on social media. Many job openings are genuine and legal, but there are also quite a few that serve as fronts for fraud.

Director of Criminal Acts of Women and Children Trafficking and Criminal Acts of Human Trafficking (PPA-PPO) Brigadier General (Pol) Nurul Azizah during a press conference at the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Indonesian National Police, Friday (21/3/2025), said that the modus operandi of criminal acts of human trafficking (TPPO) through online vacancies which are then placed in online game companies or scams does have the potential to become increasingly rampant during this period of mass layoffs.

The victims come from various regions across Indonesia, including North Sumatra, Jakarta, Bangka Belitung, West Java, East Java, Central Java, West Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Riau, Riau Islands, and South Sumatra.

Referring to the submitted report data, in 2023 there were 1,061 reports, and in 2024 there were 843 reports. Meanwhile, in 2022, only 133 reports were submitted.

In February-March, there were 699 Indonesian citizens who became victims of TAPI and were repatriated from Myanmar via Thailand. The migrant workers were employed as scammer operators or online fraud companies in Myanmar. They are victims of TPPO.

"The victims came from various regions throughout Indonesia, including North Sumatra, Jakarta, Bangka Belitung, West Java, East Java, Central Java, West Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Riau, Riau Islands, and South Sumatra," explained Nurul.

Those who have been repatriated are now undergoing assessment at the Ministry of Social Affairs' Trauma Center Protection House (RPTC) and at the Hajj Dormitory in Pondok Gede. According to the victims, the recruitment mode for the scam operator job is through social media, both Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram.

Employers offer jobs as customer service with wages of 25,000-30,000 Thai Baht or around Rp10 million-Rp15 million per person. Recruiters also pay for airfare to Myanmar and accommodation while there.

"In carrying out work activities while in Myanmar, they are required to be able to reach certain victim targets. They must get phone numbers for potential online scam victims. If they do not reach the target, they will be punished with violence, both verbal and physical, as well as salary deductions," explained Nurul.

Oddly enough, of the total 699 people who have been repatriated, 116 of them have worked in the online scam sector. From the results of the initial examination, investigators grouped five people as suspected perpetrators, namely BR, EL alias AW, RI, HR, and HRR. From these results, his party has also issued three police reports as a basis for further investigation and inquiry.

"Up to now, the Directorate of Criminal Actions PPA and PPO Bareskrim Polri has named 1 suspect with the initials HR (27), a private employee and domiciled in Bangka Belitung. Where the suspect HR is currently participating in the repatriation of victims from Myanmar," he added.

Secretary of the National Central Bureau (NCB) of Interpol Indonesia, Police International Relations Division, Brigadier General (Pol) Untung Widyatmoko explained that the repatriation of the 699 victims of TPPO was quite challenging. This is because the team from the Police International Relations Division had to travel from Bangkok, Thailand to Mae Sot City which borders directly with Myanmar.

"Our brothers and sisters in Myanmar are precisely in Myawaddi City or commonly called Yatai City and Swe Koko. This city is a city dominated by the fraud or scam industry that employs more than citizens from 40 foreign countries, one of which is Indonesia," said Untung.

Upon arrival at the location, NCB Interpol, the Indonesian Police's Interpol Division, worked together with the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, to coordinate with the authorities in Tak Province, Mae Sot. The city was controlled by armed groups. From the coordination between the Indonesian Embassy and the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Indonesian Police were given access to evacuate with the support of the Thai military or Royal Thai Army.

"We are fully backed up in terms of security to provide a perimeter. We evacuated our Indonesian brothers and sisters who have been employed there, totaling 699. It was divided into two repatriation groups, 400 in the initial stage and 299 in the second stage," he explained.

The case is still being developed to ensnare the intellectual actors and parties involved in facilitating the illegal sending of migrant workers. The public is urged not to be easily tempted by flattery, enticements, either through direct recruiters, sponsors, and on social media that promise jobs abroad with high salaries and luxurious facilities.

"Make sure all citizens get information from the relevant agencies that handle work for safe and comfortable migration," said Nurul.

Nurul added, one of the prevention aspects that he did was educating the community. Later, the PPA-PPO Directorate will also coordinate with related ministries and institutions to formulate what needs to be done to minimize victims.

Migrant Care Indonesia Director Wahyu Susilo said that the fraudulent job vacancies on social media are a consequence of the scarcity of jobs in Indonesia. Currently, in Indonesia there is a phenomenon of job hunger. This phenomenon has also created fake job vacancy fraud that is misleading.

Ensure that all citizens receive information from relevant agencies that handle work for safe and comfortable migration.

In that context, Indonesia actually has an anti-human trafficking task force. The task force, which involves several ministries and institutions, should work on prevention, socialization, and law enforcement.

"To my knowledge, these are the lines that have never been maximized by the task force to anticipate cases such as TPPO to Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand," said Wahyu.

For that, the National Police are expected to be able to synergize with digital platforms such as Google and Meta to strictly filter or filtering fake job vacancy advertisements. This is urgently done by the government, especially to prevent TPPO with the mode of offering fake job vacancy advertisements.

"This must also be welcomed by the local government because they come from the region too," he said.

Thousands of cases that occurred, he continued, can be traced with the ability of technology and data on the syndicate chain. The nodes that have been the center of the distribution of fake vacancies, recruitment, and following the flow of money can also be used to reveal the intellectual actors or kingpins of human trafficking.