Fake profiles, pictures: How Indians in Cambodia are forced to scam Indians

Reports say those trapped in Cambodia are forced to defraud people returning home (representative)

New Delhi:

According to reports, at least 5,000 Indians have been forcibly detained in Cambodia and forced to defraud Indians back home online. The sheer scale of the scam – the Center pegged the proceeds of the crime over the past six months at a whopping Rs 500 crore – prompted the two countries to join forces to bust it all.

“We have seen media reports that Indian citizens are trapped in Cambodia. Our embassy in Cambodia has responded promptly to complaints from Indian citizens who were lured by job opportunities in Cambodia but were forced to work illegally online,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The ministry said, adding that around 250 Indians have been “rescued and repatriated” so far.

According to media reports, those trapped in Cambodia were forced to pose as law enforcement officers, tell potential victims that suspicious items were found in packages they were delivering, defraud people in India and extort money.

The police only became aware of the massive scam late last year after a senior central government employee lodged a complaint claiming that he had been cheated out of over Rs 67 lakh. Odisha’s Rourkela police on December 30 busted a cybercrime syndicate and arrested eight people allegedly involved in transferring people to Cambodia.

“We arrested eight people from across the country and had prima facie evidence that multiple people were involved in the scam. We issued notice notices against 16 people, following which the Immigration Department detained two men — Harish Kurapati and Naga Venkata Sowjanya Kurapati — They were at the Hyderabad airport after landing from Cambodia,” an official said. indian express the report said.

modus operandi

Stephen is one of the people rescued from Cambodia and has an ITI degree. He told The Indian Express that he took some computer classes when the coronavirus pandemic hit and detailed the modus operandi of the scam.

“I was offered a data entry job in Cambodia by an agent in Mangaluru. There were three of us, including Babu Rao from Andhra Pradesh. At the immigration office, the agent said we held It was a tourist visa, which made me suspicious,” he told the Express.

The three were taken to an office in Cambodia where they were interviewed, Stephen said, adding that only two of them were able to clear the record. He said the boss was Chinese and a Malaysian translated for them.

“They tested our typing speed and so on,” he said. “We later found out that our job was to find profiles on Facebook and identify people who might have been scammed. The team was Chinese, but a Malaysian translated the instructions into English,” he added.

A day in the life of an internet slave

The men were forced to pose as women, have fake social media profiles and fake photos, and were given daily targets and punished for not meeting them. These are the days when recruits are attracted by the “promise” of better jobs in a country.

The “Express” report quoted Stephen as saying that if these “cyber slaves” fail to complete their daily targets, they will go without food and food.

“We had to create fake social media profiles using photos of women from different platforms. We were told to be careful while picking photos,” he said.

“The ‘South Indian woman’ would trap someone in the north so as not to arouse any suspicion. We had targets and if we didn’t meet them, we wouldn’t get food and we wouldn’t be allowed into our rooms. Finally, half a month later Later, I contacted my family and with the help of some local politicians, they managed to talk to the embassy,” he said.

How Indians get scammed

Rourkela police officer Upasana Padhi told The Indian Express that the accused brought these people or would-be fraudsters to Cambodia on the pretext of work.

Once there, she said, these people are forced to join companies that indulge in fraud. She added that the companies confiscate passports, prevent them from leaving, and force them to work 12-hour days.

“If someone refuses to do what he is asked to do, he is subjected to physical assault, electric shock, solitary confinement and other tortures. Many Indians who are unwilling to participate in such scams are trapped there. We are working hard to identify, contact and get through appropriate Channels bring them back,” Ms. Pardee said.

Scammers will pose as women on dating apps and chat with potential targets. “After some time, they convince the target to invest in cryptocurrency trading. Many people are scammed in this way in India,” she said.

According to Rourkela police, agents in October 2023 had the men join another company focused on investment fraud. “The company lured people to invest in fake stocks. They also created a fake online application,” the police officer said.

Ms Pardee said police had gathered several key pieces of information, including the location of the fraudulent company, its operators, modus operandi and management levels.

They also identified three senior agents of Indian origin and one senior agent of Nepalese origin. “We intend to arrest key figures in this scam with the help of Interpol,” she added.