India probes Myanmar camps over alleged forced crypto scams

India has opened an investigation after reports alleged that Indian nationals were trafficked into Myanmar and forced to carry out crypto fraud operations inside cyber scam compounds.

According to police in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, authorities have registered a criminal case after the wife of a 24-year-old man reported that her husband had been taken to a cyber scam compound near the Thailand-Myanmar border instead of the job he had accepted in Bangkok. Because the case involves an overseas trafficking network, India’s Ministry of External Affairs has been informed, while central agencies are assisting the investigation.

Police said the victim responded to a social media advertisement offering a graphic design and data entry job in Thailand with a monthly salary of Rs 70,000 (about $815) before travelling there in early June.

Investigators alleged that after arriving in Thailand, he was moved to a compound near the Myanmar border, where his passport and travel documents were confiscated.

Reports link victims to forced crypto scams

According to police, the victim managed to contact his family before losing communication and alleged that captives were forced to work 16-18 hours a day in cyber fraud operations, while those refusing orders faced electric shocks and other abuse.

Police also said he claimed that hundreds of Indians were being held in similar compounds, although those allegations have not been independently verified.

Meanwhile, regional outlets reported another case involving a Maharashtra resident who allegedly remains trapped in a similar compound after travelling to Thailand for what was advertised as a call centre job offering pay similar to the earlier job advertisement.

According to the reports, victims said they were later taken into Myanmar and forced to run online investment and cryptocurrency scams, including creating fake social media profiles to lure people into fraudulent investment schemes.

One family also alleged that captors demanded Rs 8 lakh (about $9,300) to secure their relative’s release, while state authorities said efforts to bring those trapped home are underway.

The reports have added to concerns over organised criminal networks operating from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and neighbouring countries. According to the reports, these groups allegedly recruit people through fake overseas job advertisements for positions in IT, customer support, digital marketing and data entry before confiscating their passports and forcing them into online fraud operations after they arrive in Southeast Asia.

International action targets scam networks

The latest allegations come as governments increase action against cyber scam networks in the region. As previously reported by crypto.news, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Myanmar militia, its leader and senior members in May over allegations that they facilitated cyber scam syndicates, cryptocurrency-related fraud, human trafficking and cross-border smuggling.

According to the Treasury Department, U.S. victims lost more than $2 billion to cryptocurrency-related fraud in 2022 and more than $3.5 billion in 2023.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s military published a draft Anti-Online Scam Bill in May proposing prison terms ranging from 10 years to life for people convicted of operating online scam centres or committing digital currency fraud.

The draft legislation also allows capital punishment for operators who use violence, torture, unlawful detention or cruel treatment to force people into carrying out online scams.

The FBI has separately reported that cryptocurrency-related fraud caused $11.4 billion in losses in its latest Internet Crime Report, with more than half of all internet crime losses linked to crypto schemes. The agency said many of the networks behind those frauds operate from compounds across Southeast Asia.

India has conducted rescue operations in similar cases before. Earlier this year, more than 120 Indian nationals were repatriated from cyber scam centres in Myanmar, following additional rescue efforts carried out during the previous year.