In a groundbreaking decision that has sent ripples through Kenya’s legal and human rights communities, a Kenyan university student who survived months of torture in a Myanmar cyber-scam compound has been awarded Ksh. 5 million in compensation by the Employment and Labour Relations Court. The ruling, delivered on November 20, 2025, by Justice Byram Ongaya, marks a pivotal moment in the country’s fight against transnational human trafficking, shining a harsh light on the shadowy underbelly of international labor recruitment and the suffering endured by those lured into criminal syndicates abroad.
The case centers on a young man, one of 78 Kenyans rescued and repatriated from Myanmar after being ensnared in a network of scam compounds along the Thai-Myanmar border. According to court documents and evidence presented, the recruiters—operating under the banner of Gratify Solutions International Ltd—escorted the victim from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, monitored his journey via WhatsApp, and ultimately handed him over to transnational criminal groups at the border. The ordeal began with a promise of a lucrative job in Thailand, a prospect so enticing that the student deferred his university studies, only to find himself trapped in a nightmare far from home.
“My agent was Virginia Muriithi. I paid her a commission of 200,000 and the process was very fast. In two weeks the visa was out. When we arrived it was not good. We were not being paid. Sometimes we were taken to the military and beaten,” the survivor told the court, as reported by local media.
Gratify Solutions International Ltd, the company at the heart of the case, was registered in October 2024—just two months before it facilitated the victim’s travel. Its directors and shareholders, Ann Njeri Kihara and Virginia Wacheke Muriithi, were both named in the proceedings, alongside Boniface Owino. Evidence including M-Pesa transactions and WhatsApp chats linked all three to the trafficking operation, painting a picture of a sophisticated, well-oiled syndicate exploiting legal loopholes and desperate jobseekers.
Once in Thailand, the victim and others were smuggled into Myanmar. There, they were confined in scam compounds and trained to execute elaborate online fraud schemes. The tactics were chillingly modern: “You go to Instagram and search rich kids in Dubai, those with flashy cars and perfect photos. Those are the people you use as your character,” the survivor explained, describing how scammers would assume fake identities to lure unsuspecting internet users into romance and business cons.
But the psychological games were only part of the torment. The court heard harrowing accounts of physical and psychological abuse, corroborated by advocate Lillian Nyangasi. “Inside the compounds they are given targets. For instance, they would be told to meet a target of 5 million US dollars per week and if you don’t, the punishments are very psychological. They lock you up in dark rooms,” Nyangasi said. “Sometimes they make you stand on very sharp stones while carrying 20-litre jerrycans of water on your head for up to 24 hours. They feed you on frogs and snakes. Sometimes they put you in very dehumanising circumstances. They are forced into sodomy. They are forced into drugs.”
The court found that the petitioner had been subjected to slavery, human trafficking, servitude, forced labour, degrading treatment, and a severe infringement of his freedom of movement. Justice Ongaya’s ruling was unequivocal: the respondents had grossly violated the young man’s rights and fundamental freedoms. In addition to the Ksh. 5 million compensation, the court ordered the respondents to pay the costs of the petition, with payment due by February 1, 2026.
Crucially, the court found that the respondents failed to comply with the National Employment Agency’s requirements for lawfully recruiting and exporting Kenyan labor. “They were not compliant with the National Employment Agency requirements for lawfully recruiting and exporting Kenyans for labour,” advocate Nyangasi emphasized, underscoring the regulatory gaps that traffickers have exploited with impunity.
For the survivor, the compensation represents more than financial relief. “My plan after compensation is to pay the debts because they are stressing my parent. Once they are cleared, I want to go back to school,” he said, offering a glimpse of hope after months of trauma.
While this case has ended with a rare legal victory, the broader crisis persists. According to BBC, those who were rescued say there are hundreds of Kenyans and other Africans who remain trapped in Myanmar’s scam city—a sprawling, lawless zone where fraud factories have mushroomed since the country’s 2021 coup. These compounds, often run by militia allies of Myanmar’s military junta, house both willing scammers and trafficked workers forced to execute online fraud on a staggering scale.
Myanmar’s military, long accused of turning a blind eye to the illicit industry, has begun to trumpet a crackdown after pressure from Beijing, a key military backer increasingly irate at scams targeting Chinese citizens. State media The Global New Light of Myanmar reported that, between November 18 and 22, 2025, authorities arrested 1,590 foreign nationals in raids on gambling and fraud hubs like Shwe Kokko, seizing nearly 2,900 computers, over 21,000 mobile phones, and an array of satellite receivers and routers used in online fraud. On November 22 alone, 223 people were detained, including 100 Chinese nationals. Footage from the raids showed a steamroller crushing rows of computer monitors and piles of already smashed mobile phones—a theatrical display of enforcement, though some monitors suggest these efforts are more about appeasing China than dismantling the lucrative scam industry.
The scale of the problem is staggering. A United Nations report cited by Reuters estimated that scam victims in Southeast and East Asia lost up to $37 billion in 2023 alone, with global losses likely “much larger.” The proliferation of scam hubs in Myanmar’s loosely governed borderlands has been fueled by the chaos and lawlessness following the 2021 coup, providing fertile ground for traffickers and criminal syndicates to thrive.
Kenya’s landmark court ruling stands as a warning to recruiters and traffickers—and a glimmer of hope for victims still yearning for justice. Yet as long as economic desperation, regulatory loopholes, and international criminal networks persist, the fight against modern slavery remains far from over. For the young survivor at the center of this case, the journey from captivity to the courtroom has been long and painful, but his story now serves as a powerful testament to the resilience of those who refuse to be defined by their suffering.
