By Hanthar Hein - Jul 03, 2025
Myanmar domestic workers in Oman say their hard-earned wages, totaling hundreds of millions of kyats, were swindled by a Myanmar woman who was operating a money transfer service between Oman and Myanmar.
According to affected workers, the woman and her family, who were running the money transfer business in Oman, failed to send the workers’ salaries back to their families in Myanmar, instead stealing the funds. The total amount lost is said to be around 500 million kyats.
“I lost more than 10 lakhs. Some people lost up to 50 lakhs. The woman had been running the money transfer business for a long time. She also handled parcel shipping. Her father was in Myanmar while she was in Oman. Now, we can’t reach either of them. Their phones are off, and we heard that their family is no longer at their 10-Mile residence in Yangon,” said one of the victims.
It is reported that not only were the domestic workers’ salaries lost, but also money from other people who transferred funds through intermediaries, as well as parcels and items that workers had asked to be delivered to their families are also lost in this scam, .
“She took the salaries and cash we sent through her collectors, along with the items we asked to be delivered. We’re working so hard under the scorching sun in Oman to earn that money. And now, all that effort is gone because of these people. That money included our tears. Some domestic workers can’t eat or sleep. Some of the money was for our parents' medical treatment back home. Now they can’t get treatment and we’re deeply distressed,” said another victimized Myanmar domestic worker.
Currently, some of the victims are sharing the scammer’s photo and information on social media to alert the public, but there have been no reports of formal complaints or legal action so far.
Since the military coup, scams like these—where individuals running money transfer services fail to deliver wages sent by Myanmar workers abroad—have occurred repeatedly. However, arrests and legal accountability for the perpetrators remain extremely rare.
