Two months ago, Abdul (name changed) made the decision to leave India in search of a better life, just like millions of other Indians who do the same thing every year. Armed with a college degree, Abdul, who hails from Telangana, had tried his hand at a few jobs in India but found that the income was never enough.
When he was approached by a travel agency, which informed him of a data-entry operator position in Thailand paying Rs 1 lakh per month, the 26-year-old jumped at the chance.
And so began Abdul's extraordinary journey, which took him to a remote area in Myanmar, across the Thailand border, where he was put up in "big buildings" and asked to work not as a data entry operator but as a crypto scammer.
Like Abdul, many others have been lured to Mae Sot, a city in western Thailand that shares a border with Myanmar to the west, and from there to Myawaddy, a border district in Myanmar, with the promise of an IT job.
The problem has become so widespread that the Ministry of External Affairs has now issued a warning about the issue: “Instances of fake job rackets offering lucrative jobs to entice Indian youths for the posts of ‘Digital Sales and Marketing Executives’ in Thailand by dubious IT firms involved in call-centre scam and cryptocurrency fraud have come to our notice recently by our Missions in Bangkok and Myanmar,” says the advisory, dated September 24.
"The victims are reportedly taken across the border illegally mostly into Myanmar and held captive to work under harsh conditions," it reads.The MEA has warned Indian citizens not to get “entrapped in such fake job offers”, which are being promoted on social media and by agents in Dubai and India.
A passage to Mae Sot
Abdul's journey began in July, after he paid Rs 1 lakh to secure the job, as directed by the agent who approached him with the opportunity.
“We were first taken to Bengaluru via bus, from there we had a flight for Thailand,” Abdul told Moneycontrol. He was travelling with five others.
“We waited for around 3-4 hours at Bangkok airport. Then a local got in touch with us and we got in his car and started from there. We didn’t know where we were going.”
Even though he had no idea where they were going, Abdul estimated that the trip lasted about 8 hours and spanned 400 kilometres. He also said that they had to switch vehicles twice during the trip.
“We were already panicked by then. It was far away from any city, and there was nothing around. We tried asking the driver where he was taking us but the driver did not understand English,” Abdul said.
Hours later, they finally reached Mae Sot.
Mae Sot is the headquarters of the Mae Sot district in Thailand and is a cross-border trade city (special economic zone) that connects with Myawaddy, the capital of Myanmar's Karen State.
The Mae Sot SEZ links Thailand's economy to neighbouring countries, including Myanmar, India, and southern China.
As a border district, trafficking from Myanmar has always been an issue in Mae Sot. However, it has recently gained notoriety as the epicentre of job scams.
And it's not just Indians who are being targeted. Last month, a Malaysian couple travelled to Thailand in search of their son, who was also a victim of a job scam in Thailand. He was found dead in a hospital in Mae Sot.
And on to Myawaddy
Even though they had been on the road for eight hours, the journey did not end there for Abdul and his fellow travellers.
“When we reached Mae Sot, we were told that we had to walk for a while from there to reach our destination,” Abdul said.
“So, from there, we walked amid vast croplands before reaching a waterway. There we were asked to get on a small boat. We kept asking where they were taking us, but they did not answer,” Abdul said.
After another hour on the boat and about 100 km from Mae Sot city, they arrived at their destination, at night.
Abdul described the location as remote, surrounded by a jungle, and with few buildings. One of the buildings had a sign that said "Phones not allowed."
That night, they were given rice and eggs to eat an asked to rest.
However, Abdul and the five, who were already panicked, called their parents that night to inform them of their situation. There was no WiFi and very little network connectivity.
They then sent their GPS location to their family back home to let them know where they were.
They then realised that the GPS was indicating that they had been trafficked from Thailand to Myawaddy in Myanmar.
Job description and torture
The next morning, after a restless night, they were called to one of the large buildings by someone they took to be their employer, and who was supposed to brief them on their duties.
Abdul and the five were in for a shock.
“We were told that we had to pretend to be girls and chat with people and get them to buy cryptocurrencies,” he said.
“They told us that each day we need to bring in around 4-5 customers who would buy Bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies,” he added.
The work included the creation of several email IDs, and fake IDs. They were asked to reach out to potential targets in the USA, Canada and Europe, a Hindustan Times report said, adding that the work hours were from 10 am to 1 am.
The six of them categorically refused to do so. They were also given a contract, which they refused to sign.
"So we told the person that we don’t want to work there. And that person became very angry. They started threatening us. They said that if we want to leave we have to pay them Rs 8-10 lakh,” he said.
Two other victims in Hyderabad corroborated these claims. Like Abdul, the two were lured to Mae Sot with promises of jobs and free visas. They were taken to Mae Sot and then secretly transported to Myanmar via boat.
“When we refused to get on the boat, they took us at gunpoint, blindfolded us and brought us here.”
“When we refused to do the crypto scam job, they threatened us and said that we had to pay around $6,000-8,000,” the duo said.
They said that anyone who refused to pay was tortured. Victims were locked in what is known as a "water jail," where one had to spend hours a day standing in water up to their shoulders while being chained, the duo said.
Scamming people worldwide
Scams surrounding cryptocurrencies have become widespread over the last few years. Citizens of countries such as the USA have often been at the receiving end of these scams, which may have been perpetrated from places such as Myawaddy in Myanmar.
In fact, the US Federal Trade Commission had issued an advisory a while back on how to avoid cryptocurrency scams.
"Never mix online dating and investment advice. If you meet someone on a dating site or app, and they want to show you how to invest in crypto or ask you to send them crypto, that's a scam," the advisory read
"An online “love interest” wants you to send money or cryptocurrency to help you invest. That’s a scam. As soon as someone you meet on a dating site or app asks you for money, or offers you investment advice, know this: that’s a scammer," it added.
Ransom demand
Abdul and the five others then called their families back home to tell them what was going on and that they needed money to get out of the situation. They asked a social worker in Hyderabad for help.
Amjed Ullah Khan, the leader of Majlis Bachao Tehreek and a social worker, has been helping immigrants stuck in the Middle East for years.
So, when the families of the victims went to him, the first thing Khan did was find the agent who gave Abdul and others the "job".
“The local agent explained that almost 500 Indians have been taken to Mae Sot. We learnt that he earns a commission of around Rs 10,000 for each Indian that gets to Thailand,” Khan told Moneycontrol.
The agent informed Khan that in order for them to return, each of them would have to pay the company around Rs 2 lakh in cryptocurrency.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "Details of agents allegedly involved in this job racket have been shared with relevant authorities in various States in India for appropriate action."
A racket protected by Karen rebels
While Abdul and the families of the five arranged for the money, Khan wrote a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs explaining the situation.
“The Indian Embassy in Thailand is also very helpless regarding the matter. They cannot visit the spot, and neither can the Thailand Police,” claimed Khan.
According to the New Indian Express, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), a heavily armed Myanmar rebel group, controls the Myawaddy district near the Myanmar-Thailand border.
According to the report, this group was also allegedly providing protection to the gang holding Indian IT professionals hostage near the Myanmar-Thailand border.
The ordeal continues
After a few weeks, Abdul and the other five paid their handlers a total of about Rs 10 lakh, after which they were allowed to go.
"They confiscated our phones 24 hours before we left. Our families were very tense during that time," Abdul recalled.
After being dropped back in Thailand by their handlers, the victims are often subjected to another terrifying experience.
“Victims are often taken into custody by Thailand or Myanmar Police for violating visa rules, and are shifted to Bangkok. They are produced before the court and finally let go only after they pay the fines,” said Amjed Ullah Khan.
While Khan said that the violation could be overstaying a visit visa valid for a month, MEA spokesperson Bagchi said that it can also be for illegal entry into another country, Myanmar.
The two other Hyderabad-based victims said this happened to them as well. “We were detained by police and taken to the Indian embassy in Bangkok, where we were treated well. They asked a few questions about the racket that was going on and we are slated to return soon to the country,” said one of the victims.
It's been a terrifying experience for Abdul and his family. The one-month ordeal took a toll on him physically and he lost about 8 kgs of weight.
But Abdul is among the fortunate ones. Many Indians remain trapped in Thailand and Myanmar to this day. On October 5, 13 Tamil Nadu residents who were trapped in the border region were rescued and returned to India.
While more such rescues are planned in the coming days, it is also necessary to ask why Indians are being forced to leave the country and risk their lives. With aspirations rising, the prospect of earning more money may lead to more such cases in the future unless proper awareness campaigns and policy-level interventions are implemented.
However, there is one person who is certain he won’t be among any future victims. Abdul vows he will never again leave the country for better pay. "There’s no place like home," he says.
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