Srinagar, Mar 13 : As many as 13 youths from Jammu and Kashmir were freed from a notorious cyber-fraud hub in Myawaddy, Myanmar, after falling victim to a deceptive job scam. The individuals, including one woman, had initially been promised employment in Thailand, only to find themselves trafficked to Myanmar via Thailand’s Mae Sot border.
As per reports, the victims, enticed by offers of lucrative jobs, were coerced into participating in online scams that involved targeting individuals on dating platforms such as Tinder and Russian websites. Their role in these scams included blackmail and extortion, a part of a well-organized international criminal operation that exploited their vulnerability.
The rescue operation, coordinated by Jammu and Kashmir police in collaboration with Interpol and India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), sheds light on a broader network that traffics individuals for online fraud. According to reports, Chinese nationals, with the assistance of local agents, were identified as the primary orchestrators of the operation, while the victims were subjected to extreme coercion to carry out fraudulent activities.
SSP Counter Intelligence Kashmir, Tahir Ashraf, highlighted the growing threat of online scams targeting the youth in the region. “Online scams in the name of providing jobs take place every day. In this case, which we are dealing with now, the same thing happens, the educated young ones of Kashmir search for jobs on social media, especially on Facebook, and they click on links and find job vacancies for data entry operators. The job is available in foreign countries, especially in Thailand. So they clicked on it and gave an online interview. They got an interview call. Tickets were also sent to them. Some were sent. Some were told that they could come with tickets.
So, these youths went to Thailand. After going there, they realised that they had been scammed and trapped there… When we received the info about this, we acted on it and rescued 13 youths. They have been brought here with proper security and proper counselling.”
During interrogation, the rescued youths detailed their harrowing experience, recounting how they were promised jobs abroad, only to be trafficked and forced into a life of cybercrime. The investigation further uncovered that the Myanmar army was complicit in enabling these illegal activities, raising serious concerns about the involvement of state actors in organized trafficking rings.
The operation also revealed that a sophisticated network was behind the recruitment process, with many victims provided online tickets for travel, indicating a high level of planning and coordination. As a result of this operation, a total of 280 victims from across India have been repatriated after being trapped in similar scams, highlighting the growing scale of transnational trafficking.
