HYDERABAD / KARIMNAGAR: A 27-year-old man from Sircilla, who was allegedly forced to work in a cyber scam call centre in Cambodia after falling prey to job fraud, has been rescued by law enforcement officials there. He is on his way back to India. Sircilla police, after learning about his plight, contacted the Indian embassy in Phnom Penh, which got in touch with Cambodian police.
The victim, Atikham Shiva Prasad, disclosed to law enforcement officials here that there were about 500 to 600 Indians trapped in the scam. He added that one of the victims was a youth from Jagtial.
A gang of cybercriminals, reportedly Chinese nationals, had set up a call centre in Cambodia to commit financial fraud by targeting potential victims from India, the police said. It may be recalled that similar cyber fraud camps were being operated from Myanmar.
Shiva Prasad and others were given Indian phone numbers to lure people into investing their money in fake companies, lotteries and task-based activities.
Aspiring to become a software employee abroad, Shiva allegedly paid `1.4 lakh to one Kancharla Sai Prasad from Jagtial, who helped him secure a job in Cambodia. Sai Prasad is an agent, who had contacted two other agents — Sadakat from Lucknow and Abid Ansari from Pune — before getting the job offer from Shadabh, a Bihar native currently living in Dubai. The police arrested Sai Prasad and Abid Ansari and seized their mobiles. A lookout notice has been issued against Shadabh.
Speaking to TNIE, Rajanna Sircilla SP Akhil Mahajan revealed, “Shiva was taken to Cambodia on a travel visa, his passport was seized and he was forced to work for 16 hours/day in a small room. Phones were not allowed and the victims were instructed to not interact with each other.”
While Shiva was forced to work in two different companies in the past two-and-a-half months, he somehow managed to call his mother recently and informed her about his work. She lodged a complaint with the police.
Elaborating on the working conditions of the victims, the SP said, “There are about three to four floors in the building; each floor is assigned a particular task.”
While those in the first floor are asked to text potential victims with job offers and links, people in the second floor must follow-up with the victims and encourage them that they could earn Rs 10,000/month easily. The third and fourth floor would convince people to deposit money to get more benefits. The police said that other victims will be rescued soon.