India has launched a criminal probe after reports that Indian nationals were trafficked to cyber scam compounds near the Thailand–Myanmar border and forced to run online investment and cryptocurrency fraud operations.
What happened
Maharashtra police say they registered a case after the wife of a 24-year-old man reported that her husband — who answered a social-media ad for a graphic-design and data-entry role in Thailand paying about Rs 70,000 (roughly $815) a month — was instead taken to a compound on the Thailand–Myanmar border. Authorities allege his passport and travel documents were confiscated, he was made to work 16–18 hours a day on cyber fraud schemes, and that captives who refused orders were subjected to electric shocks and other abuse. The victim reportedly contacted family briefly before communications were cut off; he also claimed hundreds of other Indians were being held in similar compounds, a claim that has not been independently verified.
Separate regional reports describe another Maharashtra resident who travelled for a call-centre job and remains trapped in a similar compound. Victims in these reports say they were forced into online investment and cryptocurrency scams — including creating fake social-media profiles to lure investors. One family alleges captors demanded Rs 8 lakh (about $9,300) to secure a relative’s release. State authorities said efforts to bring those trapped home are under way.
Official response
Because the case appears to involve an overseas trafficking network, India’s Ministry of External Affairs has been informed and central agencies are assisting the Maharashtra investigation. India has carried out previous rescues: earlier this year more than 120 nationals were repatriated from cyber scam centres in Myanmar, with additional operations conducted the prior year.
Regional pattern and enforcement
The allegations feed into growing concern about organised criminal networks operating from compounds across Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and neighbouring countries. Reports say these groups recruit via fake overseas job offers for IT, customer support, digital marketing and data-entry roles, confiscate passports on arrival, and coerce recruits into running online fraud and crypto scams.
Governments and regulators are increasingly taking action. In May, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a Myanmar militia, its leader and senior members, alleging they facilitated cyber scam syndicates, cryptocurrency-related fraud, human trafficking and cross-border smuggling. The Treasury has noted U.S. victims lost more than $2 billion to crypto-related fraud in 2022 and more than $3.5 billion in 2023. The FBI’s latest Internet Crime Report puts crypto-linked losses even higher, reporting $11.4 billion in overall cryptocurrency-related losses and saying many illicit networks operate from Southeast Asian compounds.
Myanmar’s military has also proposed harsher domestic penalties: a draft Anti-Online Scam Bill published in May would impose prison terms of 10 years to life for operating online scam centres or committing digital-currency fraud, and it allows capital punishment for operators who use violence, torture, unlawful detention or cruel treatment to force people into scams.
What it means for crypto users
These developments underscore the human and criminal infrastructure behind many crypto investment scams. Law enforcement and diplomatic channels are stepping up, but victims and jobseekers remain vulnerable to trafficking via fraudulent job listings. The investigations could increase scrutiny on crypto platforms and payment flows tied to such networks, and may lead to further sanctions and cross-border enforcement efforts as governments try to disrupt the compound-based fraud model.
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