HYDERABAD: Forced to work for 16 hours everyday, 27-year-old Shiva Prasad from Sircilla, who was rescued from a cyber fraud call centre in Cambodia, revealed that when victims fell sick, they were administered glucose and asked to continue working. If the workers used to abide by all the orders and instructions of their superiors, they were reportedly paid $1,500 or Rs 1.25 lakh per month. However, if they availed sick leaves or took long breaks, their salary was reduced drastically.
Shiva, aspiring to be a software operator, was conned by unlicensed local agents who promised him a good job in a foreign country. He was sent on a travel visa to Cambodia where his passport was confiscated and he was asked to work for a Chinese firm which committed cyber fraud on Indian nationals.
While he was working at the Chinese company, he reportedly received messages from victims of cyber fraud blaming him for their loss. Occasionally, the family members of some victims even contacted him on social media platforms claiming that the victims had died by suicide because of the cyber fraud.
Distressed by the situation, Shiva wanted a way out from the company and stopped working. But instead of being let go from the job, he was transferred to a different company in Sihanoukville city that committed cyber fraud with a different modus operandi.
On Monday, Shiva met with the Rajanna Sircilla Superintendent of Police (SP) Akhil Mahajan and revealed that all the victims were given different names for identification purposes. “The workers were not allowed to go out of the building; in fact, they could not go to a different floor of the same building,” the SP told TNIE.
The SP added, “The workers were assigned to different teams; each team would perform a particular aspect of the cyber fraud.” While one team purportedly sent out messages of job offers with links, another team would follow-up with those who click on those links and ask them to rate or post reviews on websites. They would then be asked to deposit some money to purchase a ‘deluxe package’ where they could earn money with higher profits.
Speaking about the other victims, Shiva told the police that there are as many as 500 Indians working at the call centre. He also identified that one of them is from Jagtial, who was also reportedly sent to Cambodia by the same agent.
The Indian embassy in Cambodia and the Cambodian police have been alerted and further investigation is under progress, the SP said.
Lookout circular issued
Currently, the Sircilla police in coordination with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Cambodian police and Indian embassy in Cambodia are following the progress of the case. However, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is likely to be involved in the investigation soon, sources revealed. So far, the police have arrested one Kancharla Sai Prasad from Jagtial and Abid Ansari from Pune — both of whom are local agents. The main accused — Shadab — who is in Dubai, is alleged to have contacted the Chinese nationals and trapped Shiva. The police have issued a lookout circular against him.