Salaries cut, tortured, locked in dark rooms for days: Stories from Myanmar’s cybercrime dens

Rescued from the brutal confines of Myanmar’s KK Park, a notorious cybercrime hub in Myawaddy, the ordeal has not yet ended for more than 200 Indians. They now face an excruciating wait at the Thai border to be finally allowed to leave for India.The 200 Indians are among the 7,000 people pulled out of the online scam centres in raids involving authorities from China, Thailand and Myanmar in recent weeks.According to the United Nations, these illegal operations are part of a network of compounds across Southeast Asia, where hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals have been trafficked by criminal gangs.Last month, the Indian Embassy in Myanmar revealed that nearly 2,000 Indians were trapped in these cyber scam operations in Myawaddy, a lawless region near the Thailand border controlled by armed ethnic militants.The 200 rescued are from various states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana.TOI managed to speak to some of the victims who are stuck in the Thai border town of Mae Sot. Indian authorities in Thailand are monitoring the situation and coordinating efforts for their return.The victims shared their harrowing experiences of being lured into these illegal operations under the guise of legitimate job opportunities, only to find themselves trapped in forced labour and subjected to abuse. medium118791341 medium nocaption118791800 medium118787887‘Faced fines, pay cuts and physical abuse for disobeying orders’Vabbalareddi Manikanta, Andhra PradeshWhat began as a promising job offer for this 22-year-old from Burugupalem, near Visakhapatnam, soon turned into a months-long nightmare of forced cyber labour.“I first encountered a job posting on Telegram. The offer appeared straightforward: a data entry operator position with an attractive salary of ₹75,000 per month. The hiring process was rapid.“An online interview was scheduled via video call, but the recruiter never showed his face. They asked me a few basic questions about my background and informed me that I had been selected. Within two to three days, I was instructed to fly to Bangkok. The company promised that everything, including tickets and currency exchange, would be taken care of,” he says.Manikanta informed his family that he had secured a well-paying job with an eight-hour shift. In December last year, he received his flight tickets and, after landing in Bangkok, exchanged Indian rupees for Thai baht. He then paid the agent who had come to pick him up.A cab was arranged to take him from Bangkok to Mae Sot. He met a Telugu-speaking man at Mae Sot bus station. They spent a night in a hotel before crossing the border.Arrival at the cyber scam centre: “Once we crossed into Myanmar, I was taken to a heavily guarded compound. The next day, I was assigned my duties. It didn’t take long for me to realise that the promised data entry job didn’t exist. Instead, I was instructed to participate in online scams,” Manikanta says.His role was to assume different identities, build trust with potential targets — mostly Indians living in the US — and persuade them to invest in fake cryptocurrency schemes. He had to chat with them, show fabricated profits, and encourage further investments. When the victims tried to withdraw their money, their accounts were blocked.Many others in the centre shared similar stories. “A Gujarati man working in the same camp had scammed an Indian investor in the US. The next day, the victim’s wife sent a message: ‘My husband hanged himself’,” Manikanta recalls. medium118792548Torture and trauma: Abuse and torture were the order of the day at KK Park. Non-compliance with “rules” would invite punishment in the form of pay cuts and physical torture.“When I refused to participate in the scams, I was punished. Fines were imposed, my salary was slashed, and resistance led to physical abuse,” Manikanta says, adding he was asked to do multiple rounds of push-ups and squats.“Some were locked in dark rooms with no electricity for days. We were told we could leave only if we paid ₹3 lakh to ₹4 lakh. Even then, escape was uncertain. Those who managed to cross back into Thailand were often arrested due to a lack of valid documents.”The promised salary of ₹75,000 was a lie. After deductions, fines, and penalties for minor infractions, Manikanta was left with barely ₹15,000 per month. The threats were constant. Surveillance cameras monitored every move and guards, believed to be part of a Chinese-controlled operation, ensured no one escaped.No way out: The compound was a fortress, surrounded by high walls with multiple layers of security and guards, he says. Any attempt to escape was met with severe consequences. Phones were monitored, and communication with outsiders was restricted. Those who tried to resist or expose the operation were beaten up.During his three-month captivity in KK Park, he managed to speak to his family over the phone three times. Those were short calls, but long enough to update them on his trauma and sufferings.“For months I remained trapped in this nightmare. My story is just one among many. The cyber scam networks operating along the Myanmar-Thailand border continue to lure unsuspecting job seekers into forced labour, turning them into pawns in a multi-million-dollar fraud industry,” Manikanta says. medium118791297 medium118787887‘Wanted to leave, but that wasn’t an option. Those who refused to work were thrashed’Kokkirala Madhukar Reddy, TelanganaReddy left Hyderabad on December 17, 2024, believing he had landed a data entry job.“My journey took me to Bangkok, and the next day, I reached Mae Sot in Thailand. A telecaller from the company arranged everything — my transport, hotel, and bus ride to Moei river. I crossed into Myanmar by boat. The process was smooth. The moment I reached Myawaddy, I was taken to KK Park, a place I had never heard of before,” recalls the 32-year-old married man.The people there initially told him that his work would involve convincing US-based NRIs to invest in a financial platform called Proledgers.cc.“I was given the codename ‘Mills’. The job was nothing like I had expected. Instead of data entry, I was made to chat with potential investors online,” says Reddy. medium118792596An insider view: Reddy and others were given fake profiles with images sourced from Instagram to avoid detection.“There were different chat stages — normal chat and deep chat. In the initial stage, we spoke casually to gain the victim’s trust. By the third day, we claimed we had invested and made profits. Our goal was to make them invest.“If someone invested $1,000, we showed them small returns. This built their confidence, and they were encouraged to invest larger amounts — sometimes up to $200,000. When they asked to withdraw, they were told to pay a ‘tax’ of $30,000 or more, effectively trapping them in the scam,” reveals Reddy.There were countless SIM cards in circulation, he says. The scammers had translators to help them with communication between Chinese handlers and recruits like Reddy. Each person was assigned a system and an iPhone to conduct operations. The building in KK Park had different floors — one for work, another for accommodation. Multiple scam operations were being run from the same premises.Escape from hell: Unlike the illegal operations in Laos, Myanmar’s scam centres did not use AI deepfake technology in video calls, where the caller would impersonate a real person with a verifiable online profile. This makes it even harder for victims to suspect fraud, Reddy claims.“I wanted to leave, but that was not an option. Those who refused to work were punished — some faced beatings, and others had their salaries cut,” he says.Recalling his own ordeal, Reddy says he was asked to lift a 20-litre water jar and hold it for 30 minutes when he refused to obey the orders. On another occasion, he was made to run for 3km in the afternoon sun.For a married man like Reddy, it was really hard to remain cut off from the family for so many days. Initially, he was allowed to speak to them twice a week. Later, his access to the phone was restricted.“Eventually, I was rescued along with several others, but many remain trapped in these scam networks,” Reddy says, adding he spent 77 days in those cybercrime hellholes. medium118791383 medium118787887‘Vegetarians like me were forced to eat either non-veg food or starve’Kunka Dharmendra, Safer Bari, RajasthanLike others, Dharmendra too was also lured by a fake job offer. “A friend gave me a number, saying there was a data entry job in Bangkok with a salary of ₹75,000 per month, free vegetarian food and accommodation. It sounded like a dream opportunity.“When I called, the person on the other end claimed to be from HR and assured me everything was legitimate. But there was a catch — I had to pay ₹3 lakh for visa processing, training, and travel expenses. Desperate for a better future, I managed to arrange ₹2 lakh, keeping ₹1 lakh unpaid,” the 22-year-old says. medium118792605How a dream turned into a nightmare: As he arrived in Bangkok, everything seemed to be in order initially. Immigration cleared him in Bangkok, and he was transported to Mae Sot near Moei river in a series of vehicles.“We had to cross the river in a boat under the watchful eyes of armed men. Another car was waiting on the other side, and soon, I realised we were in Myanmar, not Thailand. I had no way out. They made me sign a contract I never agreed to,” he says.The data entry job he was promised did not exist. Instead, he was forced to participate in an online scam targeting US-based NRIs, especially green card holders. “My role was to lure victims into investing in cryptocurrency. The profits displayed were fake. I understood right away that I had been trapped in a cybercrime syndicate.”Trapped, tortured: “When he refused to comply, they cut my salary. When I resisted further, they locked me in a dark room for days. Those who refused were beaten up, starved, and, at times, subjected to electric shocks. The pain was unbearable, and the fear never left. They wanted complete control,” says Dharmendra.Food was another form of torture. “I’m a vegetarian, and so were many others, but we were only given non-vegetarian food, forcing us to either eat or starve. There were 64 people in this captivity, all suffering under the same cruel conditions. There was no way to contact the outside world — network jammers blocked all communication.”Dharmendra was nevertheless allowed to speak with his family once a week during his almost three-month stay at the cybercrime hub.“Every day felt like a battle for survival. The only question that haunts me now is: when will we be back home?” he says. medium118787887‘They took away our phones and cut off all communication with the outside world’Kaikalur Santosh, TelanganaAfter completing his hotel management course in Hyderabad, Santosh was hoping to secure a stable job. Sometime last year, an agent named Joseph contacted him via email using the reference of his friend in Dubai. Joseph added him to a WhatsApp group and offered him a job in data entry, the same modus operandi used to lure unsuspecting job seekers.“Since I had a certificate in shorthand typing, they assured me I was the perfect fit for the role. Joseph conducted an interview via a video call and selected me. The offer seemed too good to refuse — 135K to 140K Thai baht as salary, which translated to around ₹75,000 to ₹80,000 per month,” says 32-year-old Santosh.However, the recruiters demanded ₹80,000 upfront for tickets and other expenses. Santosh’s parents arranged the money. “Joseph, who could speak multiple languages including Telugu and Tamil, convinced us that everything was legitimate. He hails from Chennai,” Santosh says. medium118792614Dubai to Myawaddy via Bangkok: He took the same route to reach the cyber scam hub in Myawaddy.“In November 2024, I landed in Bangkok. I called Joseph’s team, but no one answered. I waited for hours at the airport, anxious and unsure of what to do. Finally, I received a call from a person who gave me instructions on how to reach Mae Sot. From there, I was taken to Myawaddy.“The reality of the job soon became clear. My task was not data entry — it was fraud. We had to trick people into investing in fake financial schemes. The more money we extracted, the higher our commission was. If we failed, we received no payment, and our salaries were slashed by half. The first two months, they paid us in full, but only if we successfully scammed people into making investments,” Santosh says.Like others, Santosh was also handed punishments like push-ups, squats and running in the afternoon sun when he refused to work.Resistance, protest and escape: As mentioned earlier in this report, escape was not easy. At least 70 victims, including Santosh, formed a group and protested, refusing to work.“In response, they confiscated our phones and cut off all communication with the outside world. Fear gripped us as we searched for a way out. Eventually, we managed to send word to our families. My relatives in Karimnagar [in Telangana] sought help from Union minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who wrote to the Indian Embassy in Myanmar,” recalls Santosh, who spent a little more than three months in KK Park.The Indian Embassy intervened, and after weeks of uncertainty, the victims were finally allowed to leave KK Park. “Now, we are at the Thailand-Myanmar border, waiting to be taken to Bangkok and then back home to India.”