‘We were held captive…life was worse than animals’: Myanmar fake job scam victims from UP

LUCKNOW As many as 64 fake job scam victims from Uttar Pradesh, who were freed from the clutches of the digital arrest gang in Myanmar, narrated their tale of woes, saying their condition was similar to what was portrayed in the recent movie ‘The Goat Life’, the storyline of which essays the true tale of an Indian migrant worker, Najeeb Muhammad, whose life took a nightmarish turn in the unforgiving sands of Saudi Arabia.

The Indian government on Monday and Tuesday brought home 549 of its nationals who were lured to various southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, with fake job offers and made to engage in cybercrime and other fraudulent activities in scam compounds. They were brought to India by the Air Force’s C-17 aircraft.

Of these Indians who returned from Myanmar, 64 were residents of UP, who were jointly questioned by UP Police and other agencies, said Amitabh Yash, ADG (law and order).

Victims from UP were brought to Lucknow late on Tuesday evening. After arriving in a special bus from Delhi, they were interrogated at Charbagh by Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) officials, said police. The district administration released a list of youths from Lucknow that includes five youths – Mohd Anas, Aman Singh, Vipin Yadav, Sultan Saldhuddi Rabbani an Tauseef.

Indian nationals from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh had been lured to either Thailand or Myanmar with false promises of jobs in the IT sector. They were then trafficked to cyber crime centres, mostly run by Chinese criminal gangs, in lawless border regions of Myanmar that aren’t controlled by the military junta.

‘Salaries were stopped’

“I had seen the job post on social media. After submitting all documents, the interview took place and I was called to Myanmar on a tourist visa. They promised a good salary and better facilities. As soon as I reached there, the gang members first confiscated my passport, took my phone and told me that I’ll have to work as asked. I was held hostage in a flat in Myanmar’s Myawaddy,” lamented Mohammad Anas of Lucknow.

Another Lucknow youth revealed, “The digital arrest gang kept me locked in a garage and I was held captive for about six months. They made me work 18 hours a day…there was not even a bathroom where I lived. I was paid Rs. 1.5 lakh as salary every month, but later they stopped paying me. I got food once a day.”

“Life was worse than animals…there was not even a toilet,” said Lucknow’s Aman Singh.

‘Electric shocks for refusing work’

“There were CCTV cams for surveillance. If we dozed off during work, the security personnel would pull our hair. They kept an eye on us every moment. If we asked them to allow us to go home, they would give us electric shocks. We were allowed to talk to our family only once a day. Our phones were confiscated,” said Aman Singh.

‘Chinese, Pakistani youths also work there’

Sultan Saldhuddi Rabbani of Lucknow said youths from many other countries including China and Pakistan also worked where he was imprisoned. “They lured me with a salary of ₹1.5 lakh. But when I reached there, I was not given a single rupee and only made to work. Later, they only gave me food. Before starting work, I was given training in cyber crime. It was told how someone can be digitally arrested. We were made to do this at gunpoint,” he claimed.

Legit recruitment process?

Most of the victims came in contact with an international gang of cyber fraudsters through Telegram and other social media platforms. They were lured with high salaries and told about different types of jobs like computer data operator and call handler, etc, stated a release shared by UP DGP Prashant Kumar.

“These people were interviewed on video call by the members of the gang. Appointment letters were also sent to these people through Telegram, WhatsApp and mail etc,” said Amitabh Yash, ADG (law and order).

‘Made to cross Myanmar illegally’

According to UP police, the men were called to Thailand by air, and on reaching Bangkok, the members of the international organized gang took these people about 500 km away towards the Myanmar border, where they were made to stay in a hotel. The next day, other members of the gang took these people to the Myanmar-Thailand border, from where these people were taken to the intermediate station.

“They were taken to Myawaddy region of Myanmar after crossing the river, where the gang had set up hostels, call centres, training institutes on a large scale. Passports and other documents of these people were kept here by the members of the gang. Those who opposed this were tortured. In lieu of work, these Indian people were given Thai currency (Baht), which they used to send to the accounts of their relatives through money exchangers,” read details shared by the DGP.

Focus only on educated grads

During interrogation by ACP (crime) Abhinav and LIU team, the youths revealed that the first choice of the cyber fraud gang were MBA/BBA passouts who were also tech savvy.

“Web browsers like Tor, Telus and Whonix were used to avoid the police. Calling was done through VoIP with VPN connection. By creating groups on WhatsApp and Telegram, people are being duped in the name of shares trading. We were made to install a voice changer app through which they used to trap people in honey trap,” the youths told police.