Why are Africa's youths falling prey to online job scams?

Lured by promises of work overseas, a growing number of young Africa are being trafficked to Asia, where they are enslaved and exploited.

Transcript

00:00Most people know the saying, when the deal is too good, think twice. But who has time to think

00:05twice, especially when the offer involves living abroad and good money at the end of the month?

00:11Many people from the continent still fall prey to job scams that promise hefty salaries abroad,

00:16only to end up in slavery or victims of sex trafficking. Why do such stories continue

00:21to happen despite efforts to break the cycle? Welcome to the flip side.

00:27Findile Mtetwa, a young South African woman, narrated to local media how she nearly got

00:32trafficked into sex work when she applied for a job as a waitress. Her suspicions only became

00:37clearer while she was on the phone with a recruiter who told her she would need to

00:41dress a certain way when hosting customers at a club. But human trafficking syndicates come in

00:47different forms. We have seen a percentage of victims who were sold by their family members,

00:53so in 2023, 16.7% of victims were sold by their own family members and 14.3% of victims were sold

01:02by friends. The Kenyan government recently issued a travel warning to its citizens for Myanmar,

01:08following a significant number of cases of human trafficking under the disguise of job adverts.

01:13This scam reportedly begins in major cities like Nairobi, where recruitment agencies advertise

01:19jobs in Thailand. The applicants are unaware that Thailand is only just a transit country.

01:24Those trafficked then find themselves in heavily guarded compounds across the border in Myanmar,

01:29where they are forced to work in cryptocurrency scams and other illegal jobs. What might be

01:35surprising is that not everyone gets recruited this way once they return home. Instead,

01:41they turn into allies of these cartel networks and traffic other Kenyans for a fee. I would say

01:47when looking for a job, the following red flags should always be, you should always be on the

01:53lookout for. So this could be unrealistic salaries. Also look for companies who use free email addresses

02:00such as Gmail or Yahoo. That's also very, it's also a red flag. And then also sometimes we find

02:08that the company is requesting an amount of money before the person starts working there.

02:14That is also another red flag. While it is unfair to criticize or condemn victims of such

02:19illegal schemes, there is a need to be extra vigilant and do due diligence regarding foreign

02:25job offers. After all, the old saying still holds, when the deal is too good, think twice.

02:32And that is the flip side.