Thousands of Indians have fallen prey to promises of lucrative employment abroad. The fake lucrative IT and data entry job offers pave the way for gullible individuals to be Extrapulated to Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. Once the victim lands in the country, their passports will be impounded immediately, whisked away to a high-security compound, and there placed under cyber slavery. These people are then forced to become part of cryptocurrency scams, phishing, and even extortion plots against fellow Indians back in their homeland.
How Indians Get Caught in the Trap
Once inside the compound, these cyber slaves are forced to commit fraud under the prospect of violence. Some are forced to impersonate police, demanding money from Indian citizens through various schemes, including drugs-in-parcel schemes. As reports say, around 45% of cyber crimes targeting Indians have been found to have originated from Southeast Asia, where these scam rings operate on a large scale. As reported, tens of thousands of Indians apparently remain trapped in this criminal web.
Mission of Rescue by Government
This has become so serious that the Indian government cannot help but act. Authorities are coordinating with international organizations, NGOs, and Southeast Asian law enforcements to rescue trapped citizens and dismantle these fraud rings. In August 2024, some youths were rescued from scamming centers in Laos, underlining the series of operations against the scams. Despite these operations, almost 30,000 Indians who went to Southeast Asia between January 2022 and May 2024 have not returned home.
The Larger Context: Global Criminal Networks
Investigations have unraveled that these crypto scam rings form part of larger human trafficking rings, wherein victims are being exploited for various illegal activities. International bodies have joined in, such as the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in piling up sanctions on the operators, so as to add weight to the international extent of these cyber slavery rings.
