Days after 150 youth from Visakhapatnam and nearby areas were trafficked under the false promise of jobs in Cambodia of Southeast Asia, around 27 youngsters returned home. These trafficked individuals were sold to Chinese operators in Cambodia, where they were tortured and forced to engage in cybercrime and ponzi schemes.
5000 Youth Trafficked to Cambodia:
From among the 5,000 human-trafficked youth from India, including 150 from Andhra Pradesh, stuck in Cambodia, 27 of the AP youth safely returned to Visakhapatnam. Visakhapatnam city police commissioner Ravi Shankar Ayyanar received the rescued individuals at the Airport. The commissioner revealed that police had formed 20 teams to pursue 20 different leads from the victims about their traffickers. He said nearly 70 agents and sub-agents of the traffickers are present in Visakhapatnam alone.
Police Hunt to Nab Job Racket Agents:
Ravi Shankar said police will focus on agents, passports, bank transactions, Bureau of Immigration, call details, and email records. All details related to transnational crimes will be collected through the ministries of home and external affairs. The commissioner conceded that the victims had been subject to inhumane treatment, including being deprived of food, locked in dark rooms, and physically beaten with baseball bats.
Chinese Gangs & Cambodia Cybercrimes:
Victims had been lured with promises of data entry jobs in Singapore. But they ended up being trafficked to Cambodia, where they had been held captive, tortured and forced to commit cybercrimes against Indian citizens.
Treatment of victims from Visakhapatnam in Cambodia varied based on their performance in cybercrimes. Underperforming victims received food only once a day, those who scammed many people got two meals a day. High performers could attend parties. The duration of captivity of victims varied from three months to one year.
Rs 120 Cr Scammed from Vizag Alone:
According to initial statements by the victims, middlemen collected Rs 1.5 lakh from each of them. They handed them over to Chinese agents who trafficked them to Cambodia and trained them in committing various cybercrimes, including FedEx scams and stock market, task-game, and online job frauds. An estimated Rs 120 crore has been scammed from Visakhapatnam alone.
