Over 150 Vizag youth trafficked to Cambodia to commit cybercrimes; 3 agents held

Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam city police arrested three persons accused of human trafficking to Cambodia. Police said that the accused while working as consultancy agents sent people to Cambodia where they were forced to run online scams.

The arrested persons have been identified as Chukka Rajesh (33), a consultant agent in Gajuwaka and his associates, Sabbavarapu Kondalarao (37) and Mannena Gnaneshwar (29), residents of Gajuwaka. The trio has trafficked more than 150 persons from the Visakhapatnam region to Cambodia in the guise of promises of lucrative job opportunities.

It may be recalled that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) cautioned Indian nationals against falling prey to traffickers promising lucrative job opportunities in Cambodia.

Modus operandi

Giving details of the case, Visakhapatnam Commissioner of Police, Dr A Ravi Shankar said that Chukka Rajesh, a consultancy agent from Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam city, studied engineering and worked as a fire safety and precaution manager in Gulf countries from 2013 to 2019.

After getting married in 2021, he stopped going to Gulf countries and started sending personnel from here for fire safety and precaution management to Gulf countries.

In March 2023, Santosh called Rajesh from Cambodia and said that he needed 30 people with computer knowledge and English communication skills to work as computer system operators in Cambodia.

Subsequently, Rajesh and his team lured unemployed youngsters by promising lucrative jobs in Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangkok. Rajesh and his team collected Rs 1.2 to Rs 1.5 lakhs from each unemployed youth by promising them data entry operator jobs abroad.

However, ground reality turned out to be different. The people who signed up were transported via Bangkok to Chinese companies operating in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Bangkok. In Cambodia, they were forced to commit cyber fraud, Ravi Shankar added.

5,000 people fell victim to human trafficking

The police said that over 5,000 people from various parts of the country had fallen victim to this scam over the past two years. The victims underwent 10 days of training before being forced to defraud people in India through various cyber schemes.

Based on a complaint from B Sankar, who managed to escape from a Chinese company doing similar fraud, the police arrested Chukka Rajesh and his associates. The police said that most of the victims were from north coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema, and parts of Telangana, Kolkata.

Recently, in Telangana, Rajanna Siricilla police have caught a gang of cyber frauds who set up a call centre in Cambodia to cheat people in India through calls. Around 500 to 600 Indians were said to be employed at this Cambodian call centre.

The MEA stated that Indian nationals intending to visit Cambodia for employment are cautioned to do so only through authorised agents. The MEA also advised the job seekers to verify the background of prospective employers in Cambodia. The MEA is working closely with the Cambodian authorities to address the issue and to provide assistance to Indian nationals.