'Cyber slavery' racket busted in Thane; 1 held for trafficking job aspirants to Laos

They were trained there to create fake Facebook accounts in the names of Indian women, establish online relationships with Indians abroad, gain their trust, and convince them to invest money in fraudulent schemes, the official said.

Thane: Police here have busted an international "cyber slavery" racket wherein Indian youth were sent to Laos under the pretext of lucrative jobs and forced into cyber fraud operations controlled by Chinese nationals, officials said on Wednesday.

One person has been arrested so far in this connection and the police have registered a case against him and several others, they said.

The racket came to light after the police received information that certain agents based at Mira-Bhayandar in Maharashtra's Thane district had illegally facilitated the travel of a man, Ismail Ibrahim Syed, to Laos via Thailand.

They had promised him a well-paying job at an online call centre, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime), Madan Ballal, said.

The police's Crime Branch team contacted Syed and took him into confidence to gather more details.

During the investigation, it came to light that some persons here had conspired to send Syed and two others, Shaban Ali (of Thane) and Lucky Ali (hailing from Gujarat), illegally from Mumbai to Laos via Thailand for human trafficking, he said.

Once in Laos, the victims were allegedly handed over to a Chinese-origin handler, who recruited them into a cyber fraud company, the official said.

They were trained there to create fake Facebook accounts in the names of Indian women, establish online relationships with Indians abroad, gain their trust, and convince them to invest money in fraudulent schemes, he said.

The victims were allegedly subjected to coercion and confinement. When they refused to participate in the fraud, they were threatened with dire consequences, warned that their passports would be destroyed, and were prevented from leaving the premises, the official said.

The police have arrested Aamir Sohail Naeem Ahmed, from Nayanagar in Thane, who is believed to be one of the key local agents in the trafficking network, he said.

The Nayanagar police have registered a case against him, three persons identified as Sameer Sheikh, Aamir Khan, and Sagar Gautam Mohite alias Alex alias Chris, all from Thane, and others, and efforts were on to trace them, the official said.

The police have also initiated coordination with central agencies and foreign authorities to rescue other Indian nationals who may have fallen prey to similar rackets in Southeast Asia, he added.