Recent cases of Chinese nationals who have been trafficked overseas with the promise of high salaries but ended up trapped in illegal activities including telecom scams and online gambling.

These cases are a warning for Chinese nationals to keep a watchful eye on recruitment traps overseas, the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka said in a notice.

The Chinese Embassy had rescued 13 Chinese nationals who were trafficked to Sri Lanka, cut off from contacts with their families and the outside world, and forced to engage in illegal activities such as telecom scams and internet gambling, the embassy said in its media release.

The victims were subject to threats against their lives and suffered physical abuses from corporal punishment and torture when they failed to accomplish their tasks or when they attempted to escape, the embassy said.

According to the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, victims involved in overseas telecom scams will most probably face punishment even if they were forced into committing the crime.