Twenty-three South Africans who accepted call centre and hospitality jobs in Thailand but were trafficked to Myanmar and forced to scam people online while living under "slave-like" conditions have landed back in the country on Thursday.

According to Clayson Monyela of the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco), the group was rescued during a raid of the premises of their forced labour by Myanmar authorities. Monyela said 7,000 people from different countries were rescued.

Monyela said the South Africans had left at different times "for job opportunities" but it was understood that three of them had been there for three years.

As a result, Monyela has urged young unemployed South Africans to check with Dirco before accepting job offers overseas, saying many human trafficking syndicates operating worldwide targeted desperate jobseekers.

He said people need to be careful when accepting jobs online, especially if the offers are too good to be true because they could end up being victims of human trafficking syndicates.

"Some [South Africans] are still stuck in other countries, living under slave-like conditions while others are forced into sex work. People get trafficked and many may not be lucky to get back."

According to Monyela, the information received from the 23 rescued South Africans was that they had received job offers to work in Thailand, a major tourist destination in south-east Asia, which is seen as safe.

He said most of the jobs were calls centre agents and restaurants as waiters. In addition to that, the "recruiters" had bought them flight tickets to Thailand and also promised them a stipend before they would get their first salaries, saying they understood that they don't have money.

"The offer looked very good and we always say if is it looks too good to be true, it normally is."

The victims flew to Thailand and upon landing in Bangkok they were "collected by a syndicate but nothing looks suspicious".

Monyela said the victims were taken on a 14-hour drive from the Thai capital Bangkok, and as they are not familiar with the terrain, they were not aware that they were crossing the border.

"They only realised later that they were in another country. Their passports were confiscated and they were made to live under slave-like conditions, being forced into illegal activities of scamming people and only getting toilet breaks.

"The scams took various shapes and forms...they were doing all sorts of things to scam people of their monies.

"The syndicate also confiscated their passports so you never leave. You are scared of escaping because you will be there illegally as they have confiscated your passport."

Asked how the victims could have been taken through another border without officials noticing, Monyela said: "This is a syndicate that has been running for many years. They could have bribed custom officials."

After the victims were rescued, Monyela said they had to rope in the department of home affairs and organise temporary travel certificates for the group as their passports had been confiscated by the syndicate.

He also said the government paid for their flights to get back home and Ethiopian Airways gave them a discount.

While these ones were lucky to be rescued and brought home safely, Monyela said many others were stuck in other countries under terrible conditions and also working as sex slaves after being flown there following promises of jobs.

"We are warning young people that there are a lot of human trafficking syndicates targeting young, unemployed South Africans online. Contact Dirco if you get offers overseas and we will check if it's legit or a scam," said Monyela.