Visakhapatnam: City police arrested a man for allegedly trying to deceive youths into cyber slavery in Laos with fake job offers. The accused was identified as Mukhesh, a native of Anakapalle district. Meanwhile, police have decided to issue a lookout circular (LOC) against a Vizag-based woman Ankita, who has been luring the youngsters into cyber slavery with fake job offers. Investigations revealed that Mukhesh and Ankita were old acquaintances. They met in Vizag city before Anikta left for Laos. Police stated involvement of Chinese nationals has been reported in organising the cyber fraud in Cambodia and Laos.K Bhavani Prasad, inspector of cybercrimes police station in Vizag, said that Ankita had gone to Laos in January this year, worked for Chinese cyber criminals in Laos and she duped Indians. “Now,Ankita is one of the agents who has been luring gullible unemployed youngsters from parts of Andhra Pradesh into cyber slavery,” he added. The Indian nationals, from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and other states, had all been lured to either Thailand or Myanmar with false promises of jobs in the IT sector. More than 100 people from Vizag region were trafficked to cybercrime centres, mostly run by Chinese criminal gangs, in lawless border regions of Myanmar, Bhavani Prasad added.Explaining the modus operandi, the police said that Ankita, with the support of her friends in parts of the Vizag region, promises (date entry operators and others) jobs to youths in Thailand and other places, with offers including decent salary, food, and accommodation. The interested unemployed youths are asked to pay 2.5 lakh to agents for the employment opportunity abroad. After landing in Thailand, the youths decide that they were cheated. Later, they are trafficked to Laos, where they are forced to engage in cybercrimes against Indians, as their Chinese bosses threaten and abuse them, the cops added. “We have observed that Ankita had contacted Mukhesh and asked him to deceive unemployed youth into travelling to cybercrime hubs in Laos under the pretext of data entry jobs in Thailand. As part of a multi-pronged approach to curb cases of cyber slavery, the police arrested Mukhesh and will issue lookout circular against Ankita,” the police added.Earlier, youngsters from parts of AP who were lured into cybercrime operations in Cambodia, were rescued by law enforcement authorities in March 2024 following leads provided by the Indian embassy.
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