Fijians at risk of trafficking through online job scams, says IOM
International agencies warn organised crime groups are using fake recruitment to lure educated Pacific workers into scam compounds.
Friday 31 July 2026 | 05:30
From left: International Organization for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission Solomon Kantha, Head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Pacific office Marie Pegie Cauchois and director of Labour Standards at the Ministry of Employment, Daniel Tagivakatini.
Photos: Kaneta Naimatau
Fijians and Pacific Islanders are at risk of being trafficked into forced criminality through fake overseas job offers, with victims coerced into operating online scam networks worth billions of dollars.
The warning was issued by International Organization for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission Solomon Kantha during the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons event at the University of the South Pacific (USP) yesterday.
Mr Kantha shared the case of a man who lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic and accepted what appeared to be a well-paid overseas job, only to be trafficked to a scam compound in Myanmar after arriving in Thailand.
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"He was threatened, forced, and transported to Myanmar, where he worked in an online scam compound," Mr Kantha said.
He said organised crime groups were increasingly targeting educated, tech-savvy people in their 20s and 30s with strong English skills and experience in information technology, marketing, customer service and human resources.
"If it's too good to be true, that's the indicator that you can pick up."
Mr Kantha cited UNODC data showing annual losses from scam offences across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand totalled between US$88 billion and US$114 billion in 2025.
Head of the UNODC Pacific Office, Marie Cauchois, said traffickers were increasingly using online recruitment and digital platforms to lure victims into forced labour and sexual exploitation.
"Think critically of what we see online," she urged young people.
Director of Labour Standards at the Ministry of Employment, Daniel Tagivakatini, said Fiji recorded around 1,600 digital scam cases last week, with reported losses exceeding $1.3 million, according to figures from the Consumer Council of Fiji and the UNDP.
Mr Tagivakatini said Fiji remained on the United States Tier 2 Watch List for trafficking and called for stronger collaboration between government agencies and civil society to address the issue.
The event was co-hosted by the IOM, the International Labour Organisation and USP.
