India rescues 13 more citizens from Myanmar cybercrime syndicates; finds more rackets in Cambodia, Laos

Even as the government on Wednesday facilitated repatriation of 13 more Indians from the captivity of cybercrime syndicates in Myanmar, it has also come to know about similar fake job rackets luring the citizens of the country to other South-East Asian nations, including Cambodia and Laos.

The 13 Indians rescued from the clutches of cybercrime syndicates in Myanmar reached Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. Earlier, 32 other Indians, who were forced to commit cybercrimes, were rescued from Myawaddy and nearby areas close to Myanmar’s border with Thailand.

A few other Indians, who fell prey to such criminal syndicates, but were rescued later, are still in the custody of authorities in Myanmar as they will have to go through legal proceedings for illegal entry into the South East Asian nation. “Legal formalities have been initiated to get them repatriated at the earliest,” Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi, tweeted on Wednesday. The Centre has already shared the details of the agents allegedly involved in the job racket with the relevant authorities in the respective state governments for appropriate actions.

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Over the past few months, New Delhi’s diplomatic missions in Bangkok and Yangon have come to know about dubious IT firms luring youths from India with offers of jobs in Thailand, only to send the new recruits to remote border areas in Myanmar and force them to commit cybercrimes like call-centre scams and crypto-currency frauds. The IT professionals recruited from India by the dubious companies to the posts of 'Digital Sales and Marketing Executives' in Thailand were, in fact, made to walk through forests and cross rivers to illegally enter Myanmar. They were made to work at facilities set up in Myawaddy in Kayin State in southeastern Myanmar, according to the reports received by New Delhi.

The MEA, on September 24, issued an advisory urging citizens “not to get entrapped in such fake job offers being floated through social media platforms or other sources”.

New Delhi also came to know about similar fake job rackets in Cambodia and Lao PDR luring youths from India. “Our embassies in Vientiane, Phnom Penh and Bangkok have been helping in repatriating people from there,” the MEA spokesperson in New Delhi tweeted.

The raids by law enforcement authorities in Phnom Penh between September 18 and 22 led to the rescue of 1,480 foreign nationals who had fallen prey to human trafficking rackets and were forced to commit cybercrimes, like online gambling and illegal currency trading.

The embassies of India in the capitals of Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR and Cambodia issued advisories, asking youths of the country to exercise caution while accepting job offers and not to seek or accept employment while on tourist visas.