Myanmar slave trade: How Chinese agents lure gullible Indians

More than 300 job seekers mostly from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra including Mumbai are currently being held captive in Myanmar These aspirants were lured by agents with lucrative job offers and are now forced to work jobs related to cybercrimes for more than 16 to 17 hours a day at gunpoint midday got in touch with some of these agents who promised the victims a decent job with a good salary along with benefits The benefits as mentioned in the brochures of some of these agents included an attractive annual bonus housing allowance filial piety fund birthday parties etcThe midday correspondent contacted at least five agents on WhatsApp by introducing himself as Deepak Singh Three agents got back in touch and sought several details such as qualifications and knowledge of English language in a bid to win confidencemiddayrsquos chat conversation with one of the agentsmidday had earlier reported how hundreds of job seekers many of whom lost their jobs during the pandemic have fallen prey to these agents A number of them have been held captive in Myanmar and Thailand and are forced to engage in cybercrimeAlso Read Mumbai 1500 Indians UAE nationals forced into cyber fraud racketWinning confidenceOne of the three agents midday spoke to asked the correspondent to share his CV He then sought to have a video interview over WhatsAppAnother agent who is believed to be in Thailand as the contact number was from that country asked the correspondent to send the resume and asked what kind of job he was looking for The correspondent responded saying he had worked at call centres and marketing jobs and also had some experience of working at construction sites Hearing this the agent recommended that he apply for a promoter job in ThailandA brochure shared by an agentWhen asked what the profile would involve he said this was for a telecom company and added ldquoYour job is to attract and guide customers as long as you are attracting them to use our platform and rechargerdquoOn the topic of salary package and travelling allowance he said the package for freshers was 900 US dollars which is approximately Rs 74000 along with a commission of 516 per cent He further added that the travel expenses would be reimbursed upon arrival at Thailand airportIn a bid to further understand how these agents operate the correspondent asked if there were more such vacancies as there were others looking for jobs too Hearing this the agent asked him to introduce them and said ldquoIf you bring all of them and join our company then I will give you an agency fee as well So arrange and come as soon as possiblerdquoTwo days later the agent got in touch with the midday reporter asking if he was still interested in the job as he had not gotten in touch since The correspondent responded saying he was busy arranging money for the group to travel to Thailand The agent replied ldquoArrange for them and show up at the airport After arrival we will transfer the moneyrdquoBrochure of liesAnother agent midday approached about jobs in Thailand shared a brochure of a Thailandbased company named Hai Tai Int Co The brochure talks about social recruitment corporate culture campus recruitment and company publicityPart one of the brochure was about the company profile which stated that Hao Tai Int Co is currently one of the few overseas financial operating companies Part two of the brochure mentions the achievements of the company It stated that the group with over 2000 employees established 13 branches and achieved a monthly revenue of 15 million US dollarsIn part three they mentioned advantages of the industry Here they mentioned rewards such as cars homes and luxury goods such as expensive watches and ladiesrsquo purses This was apart from project performance bonuses birthday team plays and organised tours It also mentioned that there were provisions for housing allowance and a Filial Piety Fund to honour senior citizens dependent on the employees for their birthdayThe brochure also talks about promotion from staff to leader senior leader director and then partner It also mentioned paid holidays and statutory holidays where they fully fund travelling expenses for employees visiting their home countriesFiveNo of agents midday approached3No of agents who responded to midday