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Baghpat man trafficked to Cambodia for cyber fraud repatriated safely
The victim had gone to Cambodia seeking employment but was unlawfully detained by a criminal syndicate and forced to take part in large-scale online fraud activities.
A 32-year-old man from Ghenaura Silver Nagar village in Baghpat district, who was allegedly trafficked to Cambodia on the pretext of a job and then held captive and coerced into cyber fraud, has been safely rescued and brought back to India, police said on Saturday.
According to an official police statement, the victim, Vikas Rana, had gone to Cambodia seeking employment but was unlawfully detained by a criminal syndicate and forced to take part in large-scale online fraud activities.
The situation came to light after Rana’s wife, Dolly, filed a complaint with Baghpat police, reporting that her husband had been taken against his will and was being forced to work for the fraud syndicate.
Acting swiftly on the complaint, the Additional Director General of Police (Meerut Zone) Bhanu Bhaskar and the Deputy Inspector General (Meerut Range) Kalanidhi Naithani directed the Baghpat police Cyber Cell to launch an immediate investigation.
According to Suraj Rai, senior superintendent of Baghpat of police, preliminary investigations confirmed that Vikas Rana had been targeted by a trafficking network that entices Indian youth overseas with attractive job offers, only to confine them in compounds where they face physical and psychological pressure to commit cybercrimes — a pattern widely referred to as “cyber slavery.”
Baghpat police maintained constant coordination with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi and the Indian Embassy in Cambodia. Following sustained diplomatic and law-enforcement efforts, Cambodian authorities were convinced to raid what police described as a “slavery centre.” With assistance from local officials, Vikas Rana was rescued from the facility and later brought back to India.
Police officials lauded the operation as a major breakthrough in tackling the rising threat of human trafficking tied to cyber fraud, which has emerged as a highly organised transnational crime network that has expanded across parts of Southeast Asia, including Cambodia.
Authorities have urged citizens to stay cautious of overseas job offers that seem unusually lucrative and to verify all credentials through official channels before travelling abroad for employment.
