A Bangladeshi man who escaped from a Myanmar scam center in October spoke to NHK about how he ended up in captivity.
25-year-old Junaeid Parbas was working at a hotel in Dubai when he visited Thailand with his friends in August. A broker had introduced them to seasonal work near Bangkok.
He said, "Around 500 people were in my company. It is like a big compound or hall."



After arriving at the airport, he was taken to a forest in Mae Sot by car. He says people waiting there had him cross a river by boat.
"We saw there was a gun, a shotgun," he said. "We realized that something was wrong. We thought it was better to be quiet and see what happens next."
Parbas says he arrived at a center where his passport and smartphone were seized. He was forced to carry out scams via computer targeting people in Russia, Turkey and other countries. He says he was forced to work 17 hours every day.



"There were two armed people in front of me. If we were not working or if we were sleeping, he would give us electric shocks."



Parbas says he got the chance to flee when he took another injured victim to a clinic. He says he jumped into a river and drifted downstream for 45 minutes to get away.