RESCUING THE CYBER SLAVES

LURED BY PROMISES OF LUCRATIVE JOBS, INDIAN YOUTHS ARE BEING TRAFFICKED TO SCAM COMPOUNDS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND FORCED INTO DUPING PEOPLE BACK HOME. A CONCERTED EFFORT IS NEEDED TO DISMANTLE THIS MODERN-DAY SLAVERY NETWORK

- By AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

In a modest home at Fatehpur village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district, 52-year-old Raushan Ali sits distraught. His 23-year-old son, Wahid, and nephew, Saud, 28, are trapped in Myanmar’s lawless Myawaddy region. Lured by the promise of data entry jobs in Thailand that they were told would pay Rs 1 lakh a month, they were instead trafficked across the border and forced into cybercrime at a fraudulent call centre.

In a shaky video sent home, Wahid pans the camera across their grim reality—clothes strung up to dry, a makeshift curtain dividing the room and dense forest beyond the compound walls. His voice trembles: “We’re forced to work in scam call centres. Armed guards watch us. If we refuse, they threaten to shoot us, Seventeen-hour shifts, no rest, no holidays. And to leave, they demand $7,000 (Rs 6 lakh) ransom. Impossible!”

It was their maternal uncle who had introduced Wahid and Saud to a Dubai-based agent. Having pooled Rs 2.5 lakh, they finally left for Thailand in October 2024, hoping for a better future. But on reaching there, they were smuggled across the Moei river into Myanmar, entering a war-torn region notorious for sprawling scam compounds where powerful syndicates operate with impunity. For Raushan Ali, a driver, the nightmare is endless. “I’ve emailed the Indian Embassy, paid Rs 1.2 lakh more to the Dubai agent and filed a police complaint... My son begs for help, and we are powerless.”