International Human Trafficking Case For Cyber Fraud: NIA Chargesheet Reveals Horrifying Abuse Of Victims

In the case of international human trafficking for cyber frauds, the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has revealed horror stories of victims who refused to work. While the fear of being thrown off from the top of buildings was instilled in men, women were threatened with rape and starvation. Victims were sometimes beaten up mercilessly if they refused to work at call centres engaged in cyber crimes in Laos.

Last week, the NIA submitted the chargesheet against two prime accused, Jerry Jacob and Godfrey Alvares. Detailing the modus operandi of the gang, the chargesheet elaborates how Indian youth were lured with jobs in foreign countries as ‘live chat agents’ but instead pushed into cyber crimes.

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As part of the modus operandi, young people were lured with lucrative jobs in Thailand and Laos, taken on tourist visas, and given a week-long training in cryptocurrency, before being handed 100 SIM cards, five to seven iPhones and a script to trap unsuspecting people.

As per the chargesheet, when workers expressed their unwillingness to continue illegal, online frauds, “the accused threatened to kill them”; with references of “grievous hurt, throwing off from buildings, cutting into pieces and throwing into the river”.

The NIA recorded the statement of a woman who was forced to work in these call centres. “One female victim was threatened with rape and arraigned in a false case registered at a local police station at Golden Triangle, SEZ, Laos,” the investigation has revealed. As per the chargesheet, unwilling victims were wrongfully confined in a room for five to seven days without food, and sometimes beaten up.

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Victims were also fined for frivolous reasons such as bending to relax in their chairs during work, and for visiting wash rooms to urinate more than three to four times a day. Despite “punishment, torture and unnecessary fine”, when victims were still unwilling, they were forced to pay $2,000 as fine for their release from confinement from scam compounds, and to take back their Indian passports.