60 Indians rescued from cyber slavery in Myanmar

Tortured and forced to work 15 hours a day in isolated compounds near the Thailand-Myanmar border, they have returned due to the efforts of the Maharashtra cyber department, which worked with the Union Ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs

MUMBAI: Around 60 Indians trapped in cyber slavery have been rescued from Myanmar, where they were forced by their captors to engage in online fraud operations. These individuals, who were rescued in two batches in March, are on the other side of the online investment scams and digital arrests that make headlines every day.

Mumbai, India - April 11, 2025: Satish(L) one of rescued cyber slavery victim addresing to media , Yashasvi Yadav (2nd Right) of Maharashtra Cyber Dept along with his team rescued 60 people from Mynamar under Cyber slavery, addresing to media in press conference at World Trade Centre, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, April 11, 2025. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Tortured and forced to work 15 hours a day in isolated compounds near the Thailand-Myanmar border, they have returned due to the efforts of the Maharashtra cyber department, which worked with the Union Ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs.

Police said they have arrested five people, who worked as recruitment agents, including Manish Grey alias Maddy, a character artiste in web series and television serials. Police said Maddy’s role was to recruit individuals and provide air tickets and take them to Thailand and Myanmar. He operated from multiple locations, including Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and India.

Three other Indians have been arrested, including Taisan alias Aaditya Ravi Chandran, Rupnarayan Ramdhar Gupta and Jensi Rani D. The fifth accused is Talaniti Nulaxi, a Chinese national operating from Kazakhstan. All four were arrested in Goa. Talaniti Nulaxi was planning to set up his own unit in India to commit cybercrime, said additional director general of police, Maharashtra cyber, Yashasvi Yadav.

Deputy commissioner of police, Hemraj Rajput, said recruitment agents lure individuals via social media, on the promise of overseas jobs with salaries paid in US dollars. Flight tickets and visas are arranged, and the individuals are flown to Thailand, where they immediately realise they have been scammed because, on arrival, their passports are confiscated by the racketeers.

Next, they are taken on a long journey to the Thai-Myanmar border, said Rajput. “Here, they cross a river in small boats and enter Myanmar, where they lodged in compounds controlled by armed rebel groups.”

Trapped, and with no choice, these individuals are forced to sign one-year contracts with the fraud companies, many of which operate from a single, large compound also called a ‘fraud factory’, for the nature of the crimes committed here.

Here, these cyber slaves commit online frauds such as digital arrests and luring people to invest in fake investment schemes. Lowe-level recruits assume fake female identities to lure potential targets, while mid-level recruits impersonate law-enforcement or customs officers to manipulate the victims. Senior level operatives then complete the fraud by extracting money from the duped individuals.

Rajput said the 60 individuals were rescued from a compound in Myawaddy in Myanmar near the border with Thailand. Of these, 56 are from Maharashtra, including Mumbai.

Victim’s accounts

Satish, a restaurant manager in India, was lured on the promise of a well-paying job at a big restaurant in Thailand. “Once we reached Thailand, the agent took our passports and we travelled six to seven hours to Myanmar. Here, we learnt the agent had sold us for USD 5,000,” Satish said.

“I cannot describe the level of torture we endured,” said Satish, tears rolling down his face. “They forced us to work more than 15 hours a day, threatening to remove our organs and sell them if we didn’t complete our work. They ripped off the nail of one of us, when he couldn’t work or communicate properly,” he added.

Satish said he and others like him were asked to identify people who they could extort from, and then make calls through an app, claiming to be representatives of TRAI. They tricked their victims into believing they were in trouble, and got them to provide bank details and transfer large sums of money. “If any one of us refused to pose as a policeman or a CBI officer, armed guards would thrash us,” he revealed.

Two childhood friends Mudassar Daware and Qais Maniyar from Ratnagiri were among theose rescued. They were given data entry jobs in Thailand, where agents then forced to them to identify themselves as US citizens on social media, and chat with potential victims. They were to lure their victims with crypto currency. “We were told to follow instructions and work 16 and 17 hours a day. We couldn’t sleep and had to work across different time zones,” said Daware.