Police arrest two travel agents for human trafficking to Cambodia for online scams

Chandigarh: Punjab Police on Wednesday claimed that its cybercrime wing has arrested two travel agents for allegedly engaging in illegal human trafficking from Punjab to Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries.

Elaborating on the case, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the arrested persons have been identified as Amarjeet Singh, owner of Visa Palace Immigration in Mohali and his accomplice Gurjodh Singh.

The arrested travel agents were sending innocent people from Punjab to Cambodia promising them lucrative data entry jobs. Upon their arrival in Siem Reap, Cambodia, their passports were confiscated and they were forced/tortured to work in cyber scam call centres to target Indians and commit financial frauds over the internet.

DGP Yadav said following the statement of the victim – who managed to escape from Cambodia after contacting the Indian embassy in Cambodia – the state cybercrime police station registered a case and began investigations.

He said preliminary investigation revealed that the accused fraudulently sent many people to Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries, where they are forced to work in centres involved in cyber scam of Indians.

Sharing more details, ADGP Cyber ​​Crime Branch V Neeraja said the accused have revealed that they were carrying out illegal activities in connivance with other agents belonging to different states.

The ADGP urged citizens to be aware of such fraudulent immigration activities and not fall prey to false promises of travel agencies offering lucrative job opportunities abroad, especially in South East Asian countries. It is also advisable to thoroughly check the background of the prospective employer, especially when the job is offered under the name of ‘Data Entry Operator’, and not to undertake any illegal IT activities and contact the Indian Embassy, ​​it added.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India has also set up an Overseas Workers Resource Centre (OWRC) as a one-stop facilitation centre, to provide necessary support services to those willing to go abroad for employment purposes – it operates a 24×7 helpline (1800113090) to provide need-based information to emigrants and their families through a toll-free number.

Published on: Wednesday, July 3, 2024, 8:34 PM IST