Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa Police’s Cyber Crime Cell has busted a major cross-border cyber trafficking operation and arrested three men who are suspected of forcing Indians into forced labour at cyber-fraud call centres across Southeast Asia.
The suspects have been identified as Adithya Ravichandran (22) from Tamil Nadu, Rupnarayan Gupta (36) from Mumbai, and Talaniti Nulaxi (22), a Kazakhstan national of Chinese origin. Ravichandran was arrested from Bengaluru on March 23, Nulaxi from Delhi airport on March 26 and Gupta was nabbed from Mumbai on March 27.
The arrests were made after an investigation into the case of a Goan youth who had been lured by a fake job offer in Thailand, only to be pushed into forced cyber slavery in Myanmar. The victim was among 549 Indian nationals rescued from Myanmar earlier this month by the Indian govt.
According to police, the suspects initially offered the victim a well-paid position at a call center in Thailand with a monthly salary of Rs 60,000. However, upon arrival, the victim was coerced into contacting potential victims in the USA, convincing them to invest in fraudulent trading companies or engage in honey-trap schemes, which led to significant financial losses for the targets.
SP (Cyber Crime) Rahul Gupta confirmed that Ravichandran played a key role in conducting interviews for these bogus job positions, sourcing candidates through a network led by the second accused, Gupta. Gupta operated Evanka, an unregistered recruitment agency based in Mulund, Mumbai, which is not authorised by the Ministry of External Affairs to send Indians abroad.
Gupta was responsible for recruiting candidates, receiving their data from agents and arranging their travel to Thailand. Nulaxi was involved in overseeing the recruitment process and ensuring that the victims carried out financial fraud through platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat and Zoom.
The operation had an international reach, with agents based in several countries communicating with the gang to recruit more victims. The suspects were also involved in renting Indian bank accounts and SIM cards for fraudulent activities.
Authorities recovered incriminating evidence during the three arrests. Ravichandran was found to be carrying two mobile phones, a laptop and suspicious purchase bills. Nulaxi had a laptop, a phone, and ID cards from three countries — UAE, China and Kazakhstan. Gupta was found with a mobile phone containing evidence of the crime.
According to Gupta, the accused were planning to set up additional call centres across Asia to continue the financial fraud operations and honey-trapping schemes.
Check hiring agency
details: DGP
Goa Police DGP Alok Kumar has advised people to check details of recruitment agencies on the website of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). “If you use services of the agencies which are not registered then there are chances of being cheated. Therefore it is always better to avail the services of agencies which are registered,” he said. The DGP also said that the process of tenant verification will be made contactless soon and would happen via software that would not require police station visits. The online system is supposed to start next month, according to the senior officer.