Ditulis oleh: Nisrina Salma Fathiya, Universitas Airlangga
email: Nisrina.salma.fathiya-2023@fh.unair.ac.id
BACKGROUND
In the digital era, romance scams have evolved into a more complex form of transnational crime. One relevant example is the case of a teenager ensnared by a fictitious identity, a “fake boyfriend”, on an online platform. This false identity was used as a tool of psychological manipulation to persuade the victim to leave their environment, ultimately becoming a victim of kidnapping and being forced into criminal activity.
One case uncovered in 2024/2025 involved a 19-year-old Chinese man. He was convinced he was in a relationship with a 17-year-old and decided to travel to meet her. However, upon arrival, the victim was held captive by an organized syndicate in Myanmar and forced to work in an online fraud center under exploitative conditions.
LEGAL ISSUES
- Does the international legal definition of human trafficking adequately encompass adult male victims exploited for forced labor in fraud complexes?
- How should international courts and tribunals treat evidence of fraud when AI-generated avatars, deepfakes, or stolen images are used to lure victims?
- Can a state be held internationally accountable if it tolerates or fails to crack down on organized crime syndicates (e.g., fraud hubs in Myanmar) within its territory?
ANALYSIS
1. Human Trafficking and Forced Labor in the Palermo Protocol (2000)
The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol, 2000) defines human trafficking broadly, including the recruitment, transportation, transfer, or harboring of a person by means of fraud or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. In this case, the victim is tricked into traveling abroad and then forced to work in scam call centers under exploitative conditions
A key legal question arises: does the Palermo Protocol adequately protect adult male victims? Although the protocol is gender-neutral, national implementation often prioritizes women and children. For example, anti-trafficking laws in China have historically focused more on women and minors, leaving adult men in a gray area. This highlights the gap between international norms and national law enforcement. The exploitation of men in complex forced labor-based online fraud represents a new category of human trafficking that was previously underrepresented in earlier anti-trafficking treaties.
Thus, this case underscores the need for states to expand the scope of national laws regarding human trafficking to align with the Palermo Protocol, ensuring that all victims, regardless of gender, age, or form of exploitation, receive protection and redress under international law.
2. Digital Manipulation and the Challenges of Proof
The increasing use of AI-generated avatars, deepfakes, and stolen images in romance scams poses serious evidentiary challenges. In most national and international criminal procedural laws, prosecutors have the burden of proving identity fraud and authenticating digital evidence. However, when manipulated content is used across borders, issues of jurisdiction, chain of custody, and admissibility of evidence arise.
The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime (2001) provides a framework for international cooperation in digital investigations, but not all Southeast Asian countries (particularly Myanmar) are parties to it. This creates obstacles in securing electronic evidence and attributing responsibility to perpetrators. Furthermore, the lack of a uniform global standard for deepfake authentication further complicates prosecutions, as the defense can argue that evidence has been manipulated.
This situation highlights the urgent need for international guidelines on digital forensics that account for AI-based fraud. Without robust standards of proof, prosecutions in transnational romance scam cases risk collapsing, harming victim protection and reducing deterrent effects.
3. State Responsibility and Transnational Organized Crime
The involvement of organized crime syndicates operating across China and Myanmar raises questions about state responsibility under international law. The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC, 2000) obliges states to criminalize participation in organized crime, cooperate through mutual legal assistance, and take action against criminal groups within their territories.
However, in practice, weak governance and corruption in certain areas of Myanmar allow fraud complexes and human trafficking hubs to flourish. If a state is unwilling or unable to dismantle such operations, the question arises: can it be held internationally accountable for allowing organized crime to continue? While international law rarely attributes the activities of criminal syndicates directly to states unless there is evidence of complicity, the doctrine of due diligence obligations (derived from human rights law and the principle of state responsibility) holds that states are obligated to prevent their territories from being used as bases for transnational crime.
This case thus illustrates the broader challenges in upholding state obligations under the UNTOC. Without stronger accountability mechanisms, including sanctions or international monitoring, organized criminal groups will continue to exploit jurisdictional loopholes, preventing victims from obtaining effective redress.
CONCLUSION
The case of a teenager trapped by a “fake boyfriend” and then trafficked into a fraud center in Myanmar demonstrates how romance fraud has evolved into a complex transnational crime, combining elements of cyber-fraud, human trafficking, and organized crime. This case exposes several gaps in international law: the limited protection for adult male victims within national legal frameworks despite the broad scope of the Palermo Protocol, the increasing evidentiary challenges posed by the use of deepfakes and AI-based manipulation in transnational prosecutions, and the continued failure of certain states to fulfill their due diligence obligations under the UNTOC to prevent the proliferation of organized crime within their territories. Addressing these challenges requires stronger international cooperation, harmonized digital forensic standards, and an inclusive approach to victim protection to ensure that the growing practice of cyber-trafficking does not outstrip the legal capacity to address it.
References
- UN Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000).
- Council of Europe: Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention, 2001).
- UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
- The Times (2025). Myanmar scam factory: Chinese teenager lured by fake girlfriend. https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/myanmar-scam-factory-china-honeypot-fraud-jnccjr cfk
- Business Insider (2025). Influencers’ images stolen for pig-butchering scams. https://www.businessinsider.com/finding-dora-influencer-instagram-pig-butchering-scams-victim -images-stolen-2025-7
- CNN (2024). Deepfake romance scams in Hong Konghttps. www.cnn.com/2024/10/15/asia/hong-kong-deepfake-romance-scam-intl-hnk
- The Star (2025). Teen dropouts forced to work in scam syndicates. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2025/07/15/teen-dropouts-lured-into-working-for-sex-s cam-syndicate
