Cambodia job scam: Visakhapatnam police commissioner explains how Indian youth were lured and tortured by fraudsters

In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18, Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner A Ravi Shankar detailed the harrowing modus operandi of the Cambodian trafficking scam targeting the unemployed youth of the region. The victims, lured by the promise of lucrative data entry jobs in Singapore and Bangkok, were taken to Cambodia where they suffered severe exploitation.

According to Shankar, more than 150 people have been trafficked under this pretext, of whom 36 have been rescued so far. Victims were subjected to harsh conditions and brutal torture if they failed to participate in various fraudulent schemes, including the notorious FedEx scam and the latest TRAI scam, all orchestrated under the umbrella of Chinese companies operating in Cambodian special economic zones (SEZs).

The investigation revealed the sophisticated structure of the scam, revealing the involvement of local agents in Visakhapatnam who took advantage of the desperation of poor and unemployed graduates. Trafficking victims, often lacking sufficient language skills and resources, found themselves trapped in a cycle of exploitation and abuse, forced to carry out fraudulent activities against their own countrymen.

Below are verbatim excerpts from the interview.

Q: What was the modus operandi followed by the fraudsters?

A: We have accurate information about 150 people who were trafficked under the pretext of giving them jobs as data entry operators in Singapore or Bangkok. So they were taken from here to Singapore and from there the Cambodians took over and then trafficked them through Bangkok to Cambodia.

These SEZs all exist somewhere on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. Following information we received from a reliable informant who was in fact a victim, we launched this operation, contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Cambodia, and managed to clear or secure the safe return of nearly 36 people from Cambodia to date.

Q: Under what conditions were they trafficked from countries like Thailand and Singapore? Were they tortured?

A: Yes, it is a fact that they were all tortured if they were not able to perform very well.

The scams that were organized on Indians, first the FedEx scam, then the stock market frauds, coupled with online job offer fraud, and finally the TRAI scam. The latest one is the TRAI-scam – Telecom Regulatory Authority of India scam, and honey traps have also been reported. So, if a person is not able to perform well, then he is subjected to various kinds of torture. This is the confession of the victims who came from there. They were either beaten with baseball bats, confined in dark rooms, or deprived of food for days on end. Again, they get training, and if they do well, a little better than they were before, then they get food once a day. Then if they improve their performance, they give it to them twice a day and things like that. If they do really well and are able to generate a lot of money for these Chinese companies, then they even celebrate all of that. We have the visual videos of the celebrations and parties that were organized in case they were able to do really well and millions and millions of money they could have effectively fooled Indians online.

Q: Could you give us an idea of ​​their masters? The accused who trafficked them, who did they work for? Was it a business? Was it a criminal gang? To whom did they owe allegiance?

A: What we learned from these confessional statements is that the Cambodian government organized these SEZs and they are all owned or purchased by Chinese companies. So they are all under Chinese control and run by the Chinese. For the FedEx scam, there is a floor full of them and to give you a correct idea, they say that there are almost 5,000 in this SEZ alone and the day before yesterday we learned that after the revolt which took place and then we could get these guys back, some of them were forcibly transferred to Vietnam. So these are very dangerous trends and information that arrives during WhatsApp calls. We now have a list of 15 additional victims and they want to come back, but some of them have been trafficked again from Cambodia to Vietnam.

So those are some of the worrying trends, but the primary ownership of all of these companies is with the Chinese. We have the visuals and videos of the Chinese, and they all identify them as Chinese. Under their command are the Cambodians, and they say the Cambodian police are also aware of these types of scams happening in areas like this.

We also listed on Google all these buildings and businesses that operate in these areas.

Q: Would you say that the kingpin of these scams, this gang that operates, is it run by the Chinese? And the people who are taking care of all these Indians, beating them, torturing them, were they all Chinese nationals and members of a Chinese crime syndicate?

A: All this is done above all under the aegis of the Chinese. In fact, there are Cambodians and our Indians are also there. But they are also made to be among those who, by sheer force, side with the Chinese. So they are also part of the team that engages in torture, confinement, unjustified confinement in dark rooms and things like that. Everything therefore happens under the direction of the Chinese who own the companies.

Q: You arrested some agents. Give us an idea of ​​the profile of these agents. How did they scam these young people? And where were they operating from?

A: Yes, they are all gullible and unemployed youth spread across the cities of Visakhapatnam and Andhra Pradesh. So we have a list of 150 trafficked boys and girls. Those who came back did a bachelor's degree in computer applications, or some of them did a master's degree in computer applications. They mainly master MS Office. So here are these gullible young people who were recaptured by these agents here. These agents, many of them, returned from the Gulf. They have experience with body shops as plumbers and electricians in the Gulf and the Middle East. And when they returned, they probably made contact with some agents in Cambodia. They charge roughly ₹1.5 lakh to ship them to Cambodia. Once the transaction is successfully completed and the person lands in Cambodia, another ₹50,000 is transferred from the Cambodian agent's account to the Indian agent. For example, in Visakhapatnam, we now have five officers in our custody. Three of them are sub-agents and two of them are master agents. So they have been doing this job for a long time. These boys are mainly all unemployed young people with this type of qualifications.

Q: So just a little more on the profile of the young people who have fallen prey to these fake work scams. You said it was either a bachelor's degree, a bachelor's degree in computer science, or a master's degree in computer science. Were they largely unemployed for a very long time? Was there a certain desperation to find a job and move forward in life?

A: Yes, you hit the nail on the head. Unemployment was the main cause. These young people were searching for jobs online. These fake companies and the agents who are in and around Visakhapatnam city have somehow lured and trapped them into these kind of job offers of data entry operators with one lakh rupees as monthly salary. And after they went there, they thought it was all so pathetic. They were forced to attack the Indians using whatever skills they had. This is the case with the use of Indians against Indians from foreign soil. So these guys weren't expecting that, and some of them were feeling really, really desperate and wanted to come back. Some of them had problems with English, they were not really able to communicate and hence they were not able to trap or fool Indians online and generate revenue for the SEZ owned by the Chinese.

Q: What was the context? Did they come from very poor or middle class families, or did they come from families that couldn't really support themselves if they didn't work?

A: They were all from very poor families and really unable to support themselves or even support their families. And the families weren't able to really support them either. So they are all boys and girls from very poor backgrounds, not even middle class.

Watch the accompanying video for the full conversation.