How online job scams lure Kenyans into the jaws of Chinese traffickers

Indonesian nationals freed from scam centres gather and wait outside the Indonesian embassy, sleeping and resting on the pavement with their belongings, as seen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on January 22,2026. [AFP]

She left Kibra with a small bag and a head full of hope. Her driving motivation was the promise she made to herself, her mother, and her daughter that she would change their lives.

Nancy Akinyi was not just chasing luxury; she was chasing dignity and stability. In the narrow corridors of Kibra, Akinyi had learned how to survive by being courageous.

She was growing tired from hustling, watching opportunities shrink, and her door-to-door plaiting job was not paying.

When an online cosmetologist job advertisement appeared, Akinyi knew a door had opened for her. She applied, and she was accepted almost immediately.

The ticket and the visa were paid for by the recruiting company despite the uncertainties that were glaringly staring her in the face regarding her security.

“They got a one-month visa, and they did not explain clearly about the next move after its expiry. They told me they cannot buy me a working visa because they did not know me well,” said Akinyi in a phone interview with The Standard.

“They said I’d get a working visa when I get there. I agreed with them because I was desperate and I needed a job,” She narrated.

Akinyi never got satisfactory answers to her questions about the visa, but she was desperate for a job. She needed to send money home and give her daughter more than she had ever known. So she agreed to travel.

She boarded an Emirates flight and landed in Cambodia, a country she knew nothing about, and with strangers who had made professional promises. At the airport, a car was waiting, an assurance that somebody was expecting her, but that assurance only lasted for days.

She had been lured to online scam jobs run by Chinese nationals. At the first company, she stayed for about three days before she was transferred to another company without explanation.

At the second company, the reality sank in that she was a victim of human trafficking in Cambodia. She worked there for five months before being moved again to a third company. At that point, she realised that they were being traded. “We were given drugs. I don’t even understand what we were doing,” she said.

When another sale was announced, Akinyi and others resisted, but that came at a cost. She was the only African woman among Nigerians and a few others. “They beat us and shocked us with electricity. They did everything to us,” she said.

“There were Nigerians who managed to call the police to rescue us, but the police were asking for USD400, but we did not have that kind of money,” she added.

Indonesian nationals freed from scam centres gather and wait outside the Indonesian embassy, sleeping and resting on the pavement with their belongings, as seen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on January 22,2026. [AFP]

With no options left, Akinyi agreed to go along with the traffickers again, unaware that the Nigerians had already called the police behind the scenes. On the road, rescue finally came. Police intercepted the vehicles, and they were pulled out. “We were all arrested, but the Chinese traffickers were later released. We were taken to a police cell, 15 of us, including men,” She said. “We were later taken to the immigration office, and I’m still here without any communication. I do not know what is happening,” She added.

From December 2025 until now, she has been held in a facility, isolated and waiting

Back home in Kibra, her mother is struggling to make ends meet and provide for her grandchild.

“I am so pained because my daughter is stuck in a foreign country, and there is nothing I can do to help her. She was being asked to pay USD 3,000 (approximately Sh386,000) before they would release her. I cannot afford such an amount of money, “she said.

She hopes that her daughter will be rescued from the jaws of human trafficking that has affected hundreds of Kenyan job-seekers because she’s not alone.

Samuel Mugambi and Linnet Auma are also stuck in Cambodia after escaping the scamming sites run by Chinese nationals. Initially, they had applied for jobs in Vietnam only to end up in Cambodia.

“We were picked up from the airport in Vietnam and driven for about four hours. At night, we were dropped along the Mekong River and taken onto a waiting boat for another three hours to cross to Cambodia,” said Mugambi, who has been trapped there for about six months. “Crossing the river was terrifying. We were put on the boat and covered like luggage,” he recalled.

Throughout the journey, no one told them where they being taken or what kind of work awaited them. They only learned their destination after arriving deep inside Cambodia, in remote interior areas where scamming operations have been set up.

“Our job was to scam people online. We would invite them to rate movies and promise payment. As they continued, they were required to pay small amounts. At some point, the movies would be locked, forcing them to pay more. Eventually, the link would collapse, and their money would be taken,” Mugambi explained.

Indonesian nationals freed from scam centres gather and wait outside the Indonesian embassy, sleeping and resting on the pavement with their belongings, as seen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on January 22,2026. [AFP]

At the scamming sites, workers were required to meet strict sales targets, and failure to do so attracted punishment, either being locked in a dark room or forced to work while standing and being beaten.

Attempts to leave were met with impossible conditions requiring them to either complete the signed one-year contract or pay USD 3,000.

“No one was allowed to leave the premises. If you resisted, they threatened to sell you to another company. The place was in a very remote area. We only managed to escape after police raided the premises looking for scammers and everyone scattered,” Mugambi added.

But they were still not free. They ended up in a hotel where they now share the cost of accommodation.

“We are paying USD 50 per day and our money is almost finished. We have been told to leave the hotel, and we fear we may end up on the streets or get arrested,” said Auma, noting that in one hotel room alone, six Kenyans are crowded together.

The ordeal exposes how online job scams have morphed into organised human trafficking networks, trapping hundreds of unsuspecting Kenyans across parts of Asia.

They did not leave home to break the law, but to work, send money back home, and provide for their families.

“I have contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I have not received any response,” added Akinyi.