Thousands of Indians are reportedly trapped in Cambodia after being lured with opportunities of data entry jobs there. They are allegedly forced to carry out cybercrimes.
According to a report in the Indian Express, these individuals have reportedly scammed Indians of around Rs 500 crore in the past six months alone.
It is reported that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and officials from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), among others, held a meeting to devise a strategy to bring back those trapped in Cambodia.
Indians trapped under pretext of data entry jobs
Agents are reportedly trapping Indians under the pretext of data entry jobs. However, upon reaching Cambodia, these individuals are coerced into committing cybercrimes.
They are made to work 12 hours a day and are denied food if they fail to complete assigned tasks.
Tasks include finding potential victims for cybercrimes by scanning profiles on Facebook. They are even instructed to create fake female profiles using carefully selected profile photos from various online sources.
Reports suggest that they face torture if they refuse to engage in cybercrime.
TMC MP writes to MEA
Following the reports of Indians being lured by data entry jobs, TMC MP Saket Gokhale wrote a letter to Dr. S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, drawing attention to the issue.
In the letter, he wrote, “It is perplexing as to why the Govt of India has not taken up with matter on a war footing with the Govt. of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Surely, considering that the details of these trapped Indians and the cyber scam are well reported, it would not be hard for the local authorities in Cambodia to shut down this operation and repatriate the trapped Indian back home.”
“I’m, therefore, requesting you to kindly look into this matter urgently and take all required steps to ensure that these 5000 trapped Indians are brought back home soon and that the Cambodian authorities are urged to shut down this human trafficking operation on their soil which is not only enslaving Indians but also looting hundreds of crores from innocent people in India through scams and cyber frauds”, he mentioned.
Collaborating closely with Cambodian authorities: MEA
Amid reports of several Indian nationals who were lured by data entry jobs and are now stuck in Cambodia, the MEA stated that the Union government is collaborating closely with Cambodian authorities. About 250 Indians have been “rescued and repatriated.”
“We have seen media reports on Indian nationals stuck in Cambodia. Our Embassy in Cambodia has been promptly responding to complaints from Indian nationals who were lured with employment opportunities to that country but were forced to undertake illegal cyber work,” it said.
“Collaborating closely with Cambodian authorities, it has rescued and repatriated about 250 Indians, of which 75 in just the last three months,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was quoted as saying in the statement.
“We remain committed to helping all those Indian nationals in Cambodia who seek our support. We are also working with Cambodian authorities and with agencies in India to crack down on those responsible for these fraudulent schemes,” Jaiswal said.
