What should I do if this happened to me?

Do not accept any job offer abroad without verifying through the Ministry of External Affairs eMigrate portal (https://emigrate.gov.in) • Verify any recruiter against the MEA-registered list. Most agents involved in trafficking are not registered • Do not surrender your passport to anyone, even temporarily, before departure • Tell family the exact employer, address, and emergency contacts before you leave • If you or someone you know is trapped in a compound, contact the Indian Embassy in that country and file at https://cybercrime.gov.in • Report at https://cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 (national cyber helpline).

A high-paying job offer abroad leads to forced labor in a scam compound

A recruiter on LinkedIn, WhatsApp, or Telegram offers a high-paying customer service, data entry, or crypto trading job in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, or Laos. The actual destination is a scam compound where workers' passports are confiscated and they are forced to scam others under threat of violence.

Also known as: cyber slavery, SEA scam compound trafficking, fake offshore IT job

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

Call 1930 now

1 Call 1930 — the national cyber-crime helpline — right now. The sooner you report, the better the chance of freezing the money before it moves.

2 Call your bank to freeze the account and block the card immediately. Use the number printed on your card, never a number from the message or caller.

3 File a report at cybercrime.gov.in and keep every message, screenshot, and transaction ID.

What to do right now

1 Do not accept any job offer abroad without verifying through the Ministry of External Affairs eMigrate portal (https://emigrate.gov.in)

2 Verify any recruiter against the MEA-registered list. Most agents involved in trafficking are not registered

3 Do not surrender your passport to anyone, even temporarily, before departure

4 Tell family the exact employer, address, and emergency contacts before you leave

5 If you or someone you know is trapped in a compound, contact the Indian Embassy in that country and file at https://cybercrime.gov.in

6 Report at https://cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 (national cyber helpline).

Red flags

⚠ Salary far above the going rate for the role (₹1.5-3 lakh/month for entry-level)

⚠ Visa and flights are 'arranged and paid for' by the recruiter

⚠ Job description is vague ('customer support' for an unnamed company)

⚠ Destination is Bangkok, Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville), Myanmar (Myawaddy), or Laos (Bokeo)

⚠ Recruiter pressures fast decisions and asks for passport copy + photos early

⚠ Family of those already in the compound reports being unable to reach them

Thousands of Indians are trapped in scam compounds in Southeast Asia. Once there, they are forced to run romance scams, crypto scams, and pig-butchering operations against victims back home. Workers who refuse face beatings, electric shocks, or worse. Several have died.

If you are looking for work abroad, the safe path is the MEA eMigrate portal (emigrate.gov.in) and registered recruitment agencies only. If the salary is too good to be true and the destination is in Southeast Asia, treat it as a trafficking risk until proven otherwise.

If a family member has gone silent after taking a job in this region, contact the Indian Embassy in the country and file at cybercrime.gov.in immediately. Rescues do happen.

Known variants

Scam compounds in Cambodia display fake 'Greater Mumbai Police' boards and Ashoka emblem banners to psychologically intimidate Indian workers. At least 520 Indians were rescued in a joint MEA-MHA operation in 2026. Survivors reported electric shocks for failing fraud quotas.

Last seen: 5/24/2026

Rescued-then-reoffend (2026): Indians repatriated from Myanmar's KK Park compound regrouped and launched fraud rings in India using scripts learned inside — fake investment lures, pig-butchering calls, task-fraud recruitment. Three men arrested in India after rescue. CBI kingpin also arrested March 2026.

Last seen: 5/29/2026

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

What to do right now

Red flags

Known variants

Sources