Released last night, the report said human trafficking and cyber scam operations remain a concern in Malaysia as traffickers exploited widespread unemployment during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Malaysia was placed on the Tier 2 Watchlist from 2018 to 2020. It dropped to Tier 3, the lowest tier, in 2021 and remained there last year.

The state department places each country into one of three tiers based on the extent of government action to combat human trafficking and the size of the problem.

The report said Malaysia was among the countries in Southeast Asia with “scam factories”, with compounds where trafficking victims are placed.

“The victims’ passports are confiscated and they experience physical and sexual violence.

“Traffickers force victims to defraud strangers in online cryptocurrency and romance scams as well as illegal gambling operations,” it said.

Countries on the Tier 2 Watchlist do not meet the minimum standards of the US’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. They are making significant efforts to comply but continue to have a significant number of purported trafficking victims or have failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe trafficking.

A Tier 1 ranking indicates that a government has acknowledged the existence of human trafficking and has made efforts to address the problem. Tier 2 countries are those whose governments do not fully comply with the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

Tier 3 countries are those whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

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