A Moroccan court has sentenced a man to five years in prison in the country’s first ruling against someone accused of luring people to work in a scam compound in Asia.
A sign near military checkpoint warns in Thai, English and Chinese of the danger of being trafficked and forced to work in locked scam compounds across the Myanmar border, in Mae Sot, Thailand, Feb.
CASABLANCA, Morocco () — A Moroccan court on Tuesday sentenced a man to five years in prison and $107,300 in fines for human trafficking, in the country’s first ruling against someone accused of luring people to work in a scam compound in Asia.
The case involved several young Moroccans who said they were attracted by an online job offer promising good pay in Thailand.
Instead, they found themselves trafficked to Myanmar and forced to work more than 9,300 miles (14,966 kilometers) from home, facilitating online fraud and scams.
The defendant, Nabil Moafik, denied the charges and called human trafficking a “crime against humanity” he would never commit.
The United Nations says some 120,000 people are trapped in so-called scam centers, and prosecutions have been launched around the world to combat trafficking.
Several are making their way through Moroccan courts.
In Casablanca, victims present in court told The they witnessed torture and other degrading treatment in the Myanmar centers.
Some said they secured their release after paying ransoms in cryptocurrency, according to court documents provided by attorneys.
Prosecutors said Moafik ran a Facebook group helping Moroccan immigrants navigate life in Turkey.
There, he posted an ad for call-center work in Thailand.
He was put in touch with another Moroccan who handled recruitment, interviewed and sent money to purchase a plane ticket to Malaysia.
A police report read out in court said Moafik introduced Amzouz to another Moroccan who later demanded that he either pay a ransom or recruit 100 others to secure his freedom.
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For India and other large public systems, such updates are useful when they connect global or national figures with practical questions of access, affordability, prevention, district readiness and communication to vulnerable groups.
