Work-from-home bait: Cyber slavery call centres in Southeast Asia forced women to lay e-honeytrap

PANAJI: The investigation into the international trafficking gang running cyber slavery call centres in Southeast Asia has revealed that with the bait of work-from-home opportunities, women were recruited for honeytrap operations.
The gang even intended to establish call centres in India, Goa police said.
The investigation by Goa police has shown that the accused work for Chinese nationals active in Thailand and Cambodia.
The gang is involved in acquiring mule bank accounts from people, which are then deployed for cybercrimes.
“The investigation has revealed that there is an agency in Mumbai which is not registered with the Union home ministry and is involved in illegal activities,” DGP Alok Kumar said. “The agency used to promise innocent people jobs with high salaries abroad and then drop them at Thailand and Cambodia borders. The victims’ passports were seized, and they were forced to work in connection with cyber fraud.”
The DGP added, “With the lure of work-from-home jobs, women were recruited for cyber honeytrap fraud. The accused planned to establish call centres in India and Nepal. A Kazakhstan national involved in the case used to stay in Bengaluru. This is a huge investigation and it will take some time to get to the bottom of it.”
Cybercrime SP Rahul Gupta said police have arrested 22-year-old Adithya Ravichandran of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, 36-year-old Rupnarayan Gupta of Mulund in Mumbai, and 22-year-old Talaniti Nulaxi, the Kazakhstan national of Chinese origin, in alleged connection with the case of human trafficking for cyber slavery.
Gupta said that among 549 Indians trapped in cyber slavery call centres rescued from Myanmar by Indian govt, one belonged to Goa.
Upon a state complaint filed by PSI Sarvesh Sawant, an offence of trafficking was registered to the effect that the accused individuals hatched a criminal conspiracy by luring the victim with a job opportunity in Thailand. The victim was offered a monthly remuneration of Rs 60,000 for working as a call centre employee.
Gupta said the accused is being interrogated to determine if any more Goans have been recruited for call centre slavery. “During the investigation, we came to know that the accused work on behalf of Chinese nationals active in Thailand and Cambodia,” Gupta said.
He said the investigation has revealed that Ravichandran was involved in conducting interviews of candidates for the supposed positions in Thailand.
The accused was given details of candidates through people higher up the chain. Ravichandran worked for the second accused, Rupnarayan Gupta, who runs Evanka, an agency recruiting for overseas jobs, in Mumbai.
“Rupnarayan receives the data of candidates from his agents in the country, which is used to set up interviews. He got tickets for victims booked and sent them to Thailand,” Gupta said. “The third accused, Nulaxi, was also involved in hiring the victims to force them to commit financial fraud using platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, and Zoom.”
The gang conducted meetings and interviews on Zoom. The gang was found to have an international presence, with agents in other countries being in contact with the accused. It was found that this gang was involved in sending many Indians abroad with well-paid overseas jobs as the ruse, Gupta said.