Human trafficking and scam compounds in Southeast Asia (2020-2025): qualitative meta-synthesis of coercive deviant enterprises

This study synthesises peer-reviewed research on human trafficking linked to scam compounds in Southeast Asia (2020 to 2025) to understand their organisational, spatial, and coercive infrastructures. Applying a Qualitative Meta-Synthesis (QMS) protocol, it integrates findings from fifty publications, including forty-four journal articles, four conference papers, one book chapter, and one monograph. The included studies employ qualitative, mixed-methods, and conceptual approaches, drawing on survivor interviews, NGO and law enforcement perspectives, and legal analyses. Results show that scam compounds function as industrialised socio-technical systems embedded within licit-illicit economies, exploiting digital infrastructures, deregulated Special Economic Zones, and migration precarity. Cross-study patterns highlight hierarchical divisions of labour, coercion, and liminal victim-offender roles. Divergences reflect local political economies and adaptive organisational forms. The synthesis situates scam compounds within the broader history of illicit economies. The study demonstrates the value of the QMS for advancing theoretical coherence in fragmented literatures on deviance.