New Delhi: Though the government has managed to rescue over 2,000 Indians trapped in cyber scam centres in Southeast Asian countries, the menace still continues with people from the country continuing to get lured to such rackets despite the government issuing advisories and running awareness campaigns.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh stated that, till date, 2,358 Indian nationals, including software engineers, have been rescued from three Southeast Asian countries – 1,091 from Cambodia, 770 from Lao PDR, and 497 from Myanmar.
Singh said that though the government is taking all possible steps to curb this menace, dubious firms involved in fake recruitment job offers lure Indian nationals mostly through social media channels to Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR and make them carry out cybercrimes and other fraudulent activities from scam centres operating in these countries.
“The exact number of Indian nationals stuck in these countries is not known as Indian nationals reach these scam centres on their own volition through fraudulent/unscrupulous recruitment agents/agencies and through illegal channels,” he stated in his reply.
How do these scam centres operate?
According to an advisory running on the website of the Indian Embassy in Laos, such jobs are for posts such as of ‘Digital Sales and Marketing Executives’ or ‘Customer Support Service’ by dubious companies involved in call-centre scams and crypto-currency fraud in Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Laos.
“Agents in places such as Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore and India associated with these firms are recruiting Indian nationals by taking a simple interview and the typing test, and are offering high salaries, hotel bookings along with return air tickets and visa facilitation,” the advisory states. “Victims are illegally taken across the border into Laos from Thailand and held captive to work in Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Laos under harsh and restrictive conditions.”
It further states that, at times, they are taken hostages by criminal syndicates indulging in illegal activities and forced to work in strenuous conditions under constant physical and mental torture. In some other cases, Indian workers have been brought to Laos to work in other regions of Laos in low-cost jobs such as mining, wood factory, etc. In most cases, their handlers exploit them and endanger them in illegal work.
What steps is the government taking to check this menace?
In his reply in the Lok Sabha, Singh stated that the Government of India has raised this issue at the political level with the host government concerned from time to time. Indian missions and posts take up the issue of rescue and repatriation of Indian nationals actively with the local ministry of foreign affairs and other government agencies concerned of the host country like immigration, labour, home affairs, defence and border affairs departments as well as law enforcement agencies.
“The government has established various channels to enable Indian nationals abroad to reach out to the mission/post concerned in case they need any assistance,” he stated. "They can contact the missions/posts through walk-in interview, email, multilingual 24x7 emergency numbers, grievance redressal portals like MADAD, CPGRAMS and eMigrate, social media etc.”
Singh stated that the Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) as an attached office to deal with all types of cybercrime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. The External Affairs Ministry and Indian missions abroad also issue advisories and social media posts about the fake job rackets from time to time.
“The Ministry, in coordination with the Indian Missions/Posts abroad and offices of Protectors of Emigrants in India, take quick and decisive action whenever instances of exploitation of job seekers by illegal agents come to notice,” Singh stated in his reply.
According to the Minister, a list of 3,094 unregistered agents (till October 2024) has been notified on the eMigrate portal and this information is regularly updated based on the complaints filed by the aggrieved individuals and based on the inputs received from Indian missions abroad. Such information is regularly shared with the respective state governments and other agencies such as I4C, and the Ministry of Home Affairs for suitable action.
"To spread awareness on cybercrime, the Central Government has taken steps which inter-alia include dissemination of relevant information through SMS, I4C social media account, radio campaigns, engaging MyGov for publicity in multiple channels, organising cyber safety and security awareness weeks in association with states/UTs, newspaper advertisement on digital arrest scams, announcements in Delhi Metro on digital arrest, and other modus operandi of cybercrime,” Singh stated.
So, why do Indians continue to fall in this trap?
“Indians continue to fall in this trap because there is not enough cyber building capacity among Indians,” Pavan Duggal, advocate in the Supreme Court and cyber law expert, told ETV Bharat. “Indians are very trusting people. They tend to trust everything they see online.”
According to Duggal, because of this, Indians become victims of cybercrimes. He said that there is a growing propensity of Indians to become victims of cybercrime.
“In any case, the golden age of cybercrime has begun,” he said. “Therefore, people need to be more careful.”
