The government has raised an alarm over the risk of Kenyans being rescued from cyberscam networks abroad bringing the vice back home.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi on Wednesday, November 12, revealed that intelligence reports had shown that some Kenyans lured to Southeast Asia for fake job offers later became complicit in organised scams.
"It is a sophisticated menace where our citizens, often lured by fraudulent job advertisements and agents purportedly in places like Thailand, are trafficked to South East Asia for exploitation, including forced labour, online scamming, illegal cryptocurrency trade, and even organ harvesting," the CS noted during a Quarterly briefing on Kenya's foreign policy.
Mudavadi cited the case of a Kenyan man who was arrested again in Thailand for entering the country using fake documents, despite having been successfully repatriated by the Kenyan government previously.
"This shows that some of the victims are not innocent and are part of the criminal network. A major concern is that rescued individuals pose a national threat by potentially establishing scam operations in Kenya upon their return. Recommendations that we make focus on a nationwide awareness campaign, strengthening legal frameworks and enhancing victim support and integration," Mudavadi added.
According to the CS, such individuals, who are often trained on online fraud and digital manipulation, may attempt to replicate the same operations when returned to Kenya.
At least 400 Kenyans have been lured to Asian countries including Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar by unscrupulous recruitment agents who promise lucrative jobs.
Later on, the same Kenyans are subjected to what has been described as "conditions akin to modern slavery".
Since July 2022, the Kenyan embassy in Bangok has repatriated nearly 500 victims. The embassy also covers Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Beyond rescue operations, Mudavadi revealed that the government would shift focus to curing the cycle of recruitment and re-trafficking through a nationwide awareness campaign to educate job seekers on the risks of fraudulent overseas recruitment.
Notably, Kenya has also moved to strengthen its diplomatic presence in the Middle East after Cabinet approved plans to open a new embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam. This will be the fourth in South East Asia after one in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta.
The move follows a string of high-profile consular cases, including one where a toddler was repatriated from Indonesia where the mother is facing imprisonment.
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