BHOPAL: Two men from Bihar’s Jamui district and Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut have emerged as key Indian players in an international cyber-slavery racket that lured unemployed youths with fake overseas job offers and forced them into cyber scam operations in militia-controlled areas of Myanmar.
The accused, Faiz Akram (32) from Aliganj village in Jamui and Mohit Agrawal (30) from Meerut, were recently arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police cyber cell for trafficking a young Scheduled Caste graduate from Bhopal, Jitendra Ahirwar, into cyber slavery in Myanmar.
Confirming the arrests, Madhya Pradesh police SP - Cyber Cell HQ Pranay Nagwanshi told TNIE that Faiz and Mohit are part of different layers of the racket, while the main mastermind in India is still at large. “Our teams are now conducting raids at multiple locations and are confident of arresting him soon.”
Jitendra was lured in early 2025 through a fake job advertisement circulated on Instagram. He first came in contact with Faiz Akram, who promised him a well-paying data entry job in Thailand, posing as an employee of a recruitment agency. In reality, Akram was a lower-level agent in a larger cyber fraud and slavery network operating across Thailand, Myanmar and nearby regions.
After agreeing to the offer, Jitendra underwent an online interview through Telegram with members of the fake agency, including Mohit Agrawal, who mainly operated from Southeast Asia. He was later told that he had been selected for the job, and his travel expenses were fully covered by Agrawal and his associates.
On reaching Thailand in early 2025, Jitendra was taken by taxi to the Thailand-Myanmar border and then transported by boat across the Moei river into Myawaddy, a high-risk trade town in southeastern Myanmar, parts of which are controlled by armed rebel militia.
There, Jitendra's expectations of a good job turned into a nightmare. He was confined in a small section of a compound that housed multiple cyber scam operations, including the KK Park Compound, guarded by armed militia.
For the next five to six months, Jitendra was held captive and forced to work as a cyber scammer until he was rescued by the Myanmar military in December 2025. He lived in a dormitory with double-decker beds alongside other victims from countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia.
He was made to pose as a caller targeting people in India and other countries through fake investment and romance scams. Victims were gradually convinced to invest money in fraudulent schemes before being cheated completely.
“Jitendra’s life was confined from the dormitory to a small room office, where he was made to work for abnormally long hours, often denied food on not meeting daily fraud targets. He was also physically assaulted, while some other youths who either did not cooperate with the fraudsters or didn’t meet the targets were even subjected to harsher cruelty, including electric shocks,” MP cyber cell cops probing the case said.
The scammers told the victims that they had to work to repay the money spent on transporting them to Thailand and Myanmar.
Jitendra was rescued during a military raid on the compound and was later sent to Thailand before being safely repatriated to India. After returning to Bhopal, he reported the entire incident to the Madhya Pradesh Police, leading to a case being registered in December 2025.
Investigations led to the arrest of Faiz Akram, whose interrogation revealed details about other members of the network. Authorities later identified Mohit Agrawal as another key operative and issued a Lookout Circular against him, which resulted in his arrest at New Delhi Airport.
Police said efforts are ongoing to track and arrest the main handler of the racket in India, believed to be operating from a northern state.
Investigations have revealed that in Myawaddy, several casinos that were once popular tourist destinations were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic have been taken over by cybercrime syndicates and converted into scam hubs.
A cyber crime facility in KK park compound reportedly houses more than 250 unregistered buildings and thousands of trafficked individuals from across Asia and Africa who are forced into cyber scams.
These compounds are located in militia-controlled border regions and are equipped with dormitories, offices and even hospitals. Victims are forced to work long hours carrying out online frauds, mainly fake investment and romance scams.
The recruitment process typically begins with fake job advertisements on social media platforms like Instagram. Victims are promised high salaries and easy work. Once they arrive in countries such as Thailand or Laos, they are trafficked across the border into Myanmar, where their passports are seized and they are forced into labour under the pretext of repaying travel expenses.
International agency inputs suggest that between 1.2 lakh and 1.5 lakh people may be trapped in such compounds in Myanmar, with similar operations also reported in Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.
Authorities believe that the huge money generated from these cybercrimes is being used to support local economies as well as fund the activities of rebel groups operating against the Myanmar military.