Promised jobs in Thailand, forced into cyber fraud in Laos; FIR filed

According to Yadav’s complaint, he and three others working with him were also allegedly tied to chairs when the suspects found that they had contacted the Indian embassy for help.

Incidentally, in October 2022 as well, the government had rescued 130 Indians who were lured by a fake job racket in which Indians were promised jobs in Thailand but taken to Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, where they were forced into cyber crime targeting western countries.

In his complaint to the Vile Parle Police, Yadav, a resident of Wagle Estate in Thane, said that he completed his hotel management course in 2021. Through a relative who worked at a hotel in Vile Parle, he was trying to look for a job as a chef.

Eventually, through his relative’s contact, he received a call in December 2022 from a person who offered him work at a call centre in Thailand for a salary of Rs 65,000 a month if he was willing to travel.

Yadav took the offer and paid a Rs 30,000 commission after which he received an “offer letter”. He also got tickets from Mumbai to Bangkok and Bangkok to Chiang Rai, a city in northern Thailand, near the border with Laos.

On December 31, 2022, Yadav left for Chiang Rai. In the flight, he said, he met another Indian, Preety from Pune, who was also going there for a job.

On arrival at Chiang Rai, a Chinese national drove the two Indians to the Laos border. Near the immigration office, Yadav said, they found another five-six Indians from Delhi and Punjab, who were also going there for a job. “There we met another Chinese national who took our passports and took us to Laos on boats,” Yadav said in his complaint.

Three vehicles waiting on the other side took them to the Golden Triangle area of Laos. “There we met two Indians, Godfrey and Sunny. They gave us a computer and mobile phones with US SIM cards. We were told to create fake accounts on social media platforms and contact people in the US, Europe and Canada, and ask them to invest in crypto currency and dupe them,” Yadav said in his complaint.

According to him, rules at the workplace were very strict and they had to pay fines for reasons like coming late by a minute or even moving the chair too much.

On February 15, 2023, nearly three days before they were to get their salary, Sunny and Godrey took 30 Indians aside and told them that they would now work in another company as this firm was too strict. As a result, none of them got their salaries, Yadav said.

The other company, Yadav said, was involved in duping US nationals through phone calls. “On March 3, around 15 of us were celebrating the birthday of a colleague when there was a fight. The company was upset and levied a hefty fine. At this point we decided to return to India,” Yadav said. However, when they contacted the agents – Godfrey, Sunny and one Jacob – for their passports, they were told that they would have to pay up. This is when the youngsters contacted the Indian embassy in Laos. The embassy asked them to send an official email along with names of all Indians who were held against their will, which they sent.

On March 12, the three accused on finding out that the youngsters had approached the embassy for help asked them to return their mobile phones. They then deleted all data from the phones. They beat up the youngsters and asked them to take their complaint back from the embassy.

Yadav said he also had to pay 200 Chinese Yuan to them. He alleged that four of them were kept in separate rooms, tied to chairs. They were allegedly threatened that if they returned to India and told anyone about them, their families would be murdered.

Eventually, following action from the embassy, the local police rescued the Indians. While two of the youngsters got their passports within two days, Yadav received his passport a few days later following which he returned to India.

A senior police officer probing the case said that after returning to India, it took them time to realise that a gang was involved in the racket. “Based on enquiry, we registered an FIR in the case and are looking for the accused. Two of the three accused agents are from Mumbai,” the officer said.