Hyderabad youth got a dream job offer in Thailand. Now, he’s living a nightmare as cyber slave

The plight of Mir and other Hyderabad youths came to light after MP Asaduddin Owaisi posted about their situation. “I have received a distressing message: at least 16 Indian nationals, including three from Hyderabad, were promised jobs in Thailand but taken to the Myanmar-Thailand border and enslaved. They are forced to work 18-20 hours daily, physically punished, and deprived of passports, phones, and medical facilities,” he wrote, urging External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to intervene.

“Mir told me that when the recruiter made a video call, he showed a beautiful villa with a swimming pool and several amenities. He was told this was the workplace and encouraged to travel as quickly as possible to Bangkok or someone else would take the job,” Mehdi Ali, Mir’s cousin, said.

Mir’s father works in Kuwait City while his mother lives in Hyderabad. “Mir did not inform his parents about the job offer. He simply said he was going on a holiday. He called his mother after landing in Bangkok and informed her that he would work from there. Although his mother tried to persuade him to return, he refused. For about eight days, Mir made video calls to show his workplace, which was good. He said that his employer was treating him well. Then, there was no call for nearly 15 days,” Mehdi Ali said.

“When he eventually did make contact, it was a hurried and scared phone call to inform that he was confined somewhere near the Thailand-Myanmar border, based on the location his phone showed. Then there was no call again for several days. A few days ago, he called to say his phone had been taken away for a while. He told his mother and another relative about the ordeal that he and two other youths from Hyderabad were facing. He said that several Indian youths were trapped in a similar situation, and asked to be rescued,” Mehdi Ali said.

A college dropout, Mir, who did several online courses, was struggling to find a well-paying job, though he was doing part-time gigs online. Two other youths from Hyderabad have been identified as Sameer Khan of Maula Ali and Arshad of Banjara Hills.

Sources said that several youths from various parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are caught up in the job racket. “Those who were rescued by Thai police and returned home said that they were manhandled, abused and threatened if they refused to do the work, which is basically cybercrime. They are given daily targets, and if they fail, their passports and phones are seized,” an Andhra Pradesh CID official said.

Last November, the Andhra Pradesh government, with the aid of the Government of India, rescued 370 persons, including 55 from Andhra Pradesh, from several call centres on the Thailand-Myanmar border. They were repatriated in three flights.

CID Director General Dr A Ravi Shankar said that the youths were forced into “cyber slavery”. “They were forced to commit online fraud from these dubious call centres. In the second week of January, 22 more Andhra Pradesh youths were rescued by the CID in coordination with the Centre and Thailand officials,” he said.