Cambodia job scam: Trafficked Telugu youth tortured, not given food for days for 'under performance' in cyber fraud

Hyderabad: Days after the Visakhapatnam police uncovered a human trafficking racket which operated from Cambodia, a group of 60 Indian youth arrived in Delhi.

On Monday, as many as 300 Indians revolted on a large scale against their handlers in Cambodia, causing large-scale riots in Jinbei Compound, Sihanoukville, Cambodia, which is the hub of cybercrime fraud factories. A large section of them requested that Indian authorities look into their fate and safely repatriate to India.

Following these arrests, many people called up Vizag City police WhatsApp numbers and sent videos.

Vizag police commissioner Ravi Shankar Ayyanar received around 15 youth belonging to Vizag and other surrounding areas repatriated with the help of the Indian Embassy.

Around 115 individuals from Andhra Pradesh fell into Cambodia's clutches. He said that the handlers subjected the Indian youth to torture, including confinement in a dark room and occasional beatings with a baseball bat due to their poor performance.

Handlers in Cambodia had served only one meal a day to the Indian youth who were trafficked, and sometimes they went empty- stomach for days for 'under performance' in cyber fraud.

“In our preliminary interactions with those who returned today we understood that each of them paid around Rs 1.5 lakh to a local agent for a data entry job and went to Cambodia. Once in Cambodia, these young individuals found themselves compelled to participate in cyber scams in India, such as the Fed X scam and the stock market frauds. They were also given targets. They would not receive food if they underperformed for several days in a row. They had to starve or eat only one meal a day. If their performance was commendable, they received a daily meal and occasionally even attended parties,” Vizag city police commissioner Ravi Shankar Ayyanar said on Friday that underperformers sometimes face punishments such as confinement to dark rooms and beatings with a baseball bat.

They receive training to handle specialized cybercrimes against Indian citizens, including FedEx scams, stock market scams, task game scams, and various other types.

Police a few days ago arrested the local agents Chukka Rajesh Vijay Kumar, Mannena Gnaneswara Rao, and Sabbavarapu Kondala Rao, who had recruited local youth. These agents provided the names of the youths who arrived in Cambodia.

For a year, traffickers from Vizag and the surrounding area forced around 115 youth to commit cybercrime by putting them under duress.

The Indian embassy in Cambodia took to X to inform us that the first batch of 60 Indian nationals rescued by the embassy from fraudulent employers have now returned home.

“Always committed to helping Indians abroad. The first batch of 60 Indian nationals rescued by the Indian Embassy in Cambodia from fraudulent employers returned home. Thank the Cambodian authorities for their support,” said the Indian Embassy in Cambodia on X.