NEW DELHI: Hundreds of Indians have been duped into working for cyber fraud cells in places like Myanmar, where they are tortured for resistance or have to pay lakhs of rupees to return home.
25-year-old Sagar Chauhan from Lucknow recounts how he was hoodwinked, along with two other friends Ajay and Rahul, into working for an IT firm in Malaysia but ended up in Myanmar in a cyber fraud unit run allegedly by a Chinese man.
“We got to know of IT jobs in Malaysia through a friend who had worked there and after applying for the same, gave an online interview. Within a few days, our visas and tickets were issued and three of us (Ajay and Rahul) headed out for Malaysia, via Bangkok,” Sagar told.
They left India on March 27th and on reaching Bangkok (which they were told was only transit) were booked into a hotel and taken for sightseeing for a day, the following day they were driven out of Bangkok for nearly eight hours to enter Myanmar.
“The person driving us was Thai and would stop for food and then we crossed into Myanmar close to Mae Sot Airport in Thailand. We were taken in by men in uniform who claimed to be from the Myanmar army,” said Sagar adding that the location of the place is shown as Megalahpo, Myanmar on the map.
They reached a well-appointed facility which Sagar says was named Chuangishan. After one day’s rest, they were introduced to the boss who was Chinese and spoke through an interpreter.
They were informed of the job which was primarily to target the rich across the world and lure them into making investments through cyber fraud.
“The facility had over 5000 men and women from different nationalities including Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Malaysia, Morroco, and Ethiopia. Any resistance would translate into being beaten and kept in a dark room. While Ajay and Rahul relented, I didn’t,” Sagar added.
Men and women working in the facility are given as many as five iPhones, 15 SIM cards, and two pen drives with pictures of girls and boys showing affluence to lure people and transfer money on fake pretexts.
As Sagar refused to work he was initially shifted to a black room where he was beaten up and tortured. A few days later he was given an option of returning back if he could transfer Rs 8 lakhs through a Binance Account (used for Crypto trading). Once his family transferred the money he was permitted to return, and reached India on April 14th. However, Ajay and Rahul are still trapped there.
“We have been pleading with our government to get Ajay back. He has reached out to us and spoken about the torture and the illegal things that they are made to do. We don’t have money but want him to return home safely,” said Ram Janam, Ajay’s brother-in-law.
While Sagar was back home, someone reached out to him from Myanmar saying that if he could send boys to work for them he would get a commission of Rs 3 lakh. There are over 80 Indians, according to Sagar, still stuck in the facility wanting to return.
