Indians sent to work in Myanmar cyber-crime sweatshop syndicates; CBI books 'trafficker'

New Delhi: The CBI has registered an FIR against a Chandigarh-based racket for allegedly trafficking "gullible Indians" to Myanmar to work in the cyber-crime sweatshops operating there in the garb of getting them lucrative jobs in Thailand, officials said on Tuesday.

The federal agency has named the alleged mastermind of the racket, Riya Sonkar, who is based in Chandigarh, and one Ajay in the FIR registered under Indian Penal Code sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 370(3) (human trafficking).

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also conducted a search operation at the premises of Sonkar, unearthing a trove of digital information pertaining to the entire "scam" and details of transactions, the officials said.

According to the racket's modus operandi, Sonkar allegedly promised people jobs of customer-support executives and data-entry operators in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, but sent them to a network of human traffickers in Myawaddy in Myanmar, which is infamous for cyber-crime syndicates run by Chinese and Indians, where trapped people are forced to cheat foreign nationals on the internet.

"In case these victims refuse to work on cyber crimes, then they are being given severe punishments e.g. physical torture, electrocution etc. Many victims are still trapped in Myawaddy, Myanmar region," the FIR alleges.

Sonkar's operations were exposed when she attempted to send people to Myanmar by promising them jobs for a Chinese company as customer-support executives for a salary of 1,000 USD and other incentives.

Instead, she sent them business visas and tickets for Yangoon in Myanmar. When the victims questioned her, she was able to convince them by giving flimsy reasons for the change in plans.

The victims met an Indian passenger on the flight who alerted them about traps laid by shady human traffickers operating in Myawaddy and asked them to get in touch with the Indian embassy on reaching Myanmar.

When the victims reached Yangoon, they encountered some suspicious-looking individuals who had come to receive them on behalf of the company.

Already alerted by the co-passenger on the flight, the victims got suspicious that their job offers were fake and they were getting trapped. They refused to be waylaid into the trap and contacted the Indian embassy, which also warned them from proceeding further.

"Indian Embassy got them deported back to India on March 6, 2024 on their own expenses. It has been further learnt that Riya Sonkar has a target to recruit 20 Indian nationals in the coming days," the FIR has alleged.