Chandigarh: Punjab police on Wednesday claimed that its Cyber Crime Division had arrested two travel agents for indulging in illegal trafficking of persons from the Punjab to Cambodia and other South East Asian countries.
Elaborating on the case, Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav said that those arrested have been identified as Amarjeet Singh, who is the owner of Visa Palace Immigration in Mohali and his accomplice Gurjodh Singh.
The arrested travel agents were sending innocent people from Punjab to Cambodia promising them lucrative data entry jobs. On arrival at Siem Reap in Cambodia, their passports were taken away and they were forced/tortured to work in Cyber Scamming Call centres to target Indian people to commit Cyber financial frauds.
DGP Yadav said that following the statement of the victim - who managed to escape from Cambodia after getting in contact with the Indian embassy in Cambodia - the State Cyber Crime Police Station registered a case and started investigations.
He said preliminary investigation revealed that the accused persons have fraudulently sent many persons to Cambodia and other South-East Asian countries, where they are forcibly made to work at centres engaged in Cyber Scamming Indians.
Sharing more details, ADGP Cyber Crime Division, V Neeraja said that the accused have revealed that they were doing the illegal activities in connivance with other agents belonging to different states.
The ADGP exhorted the citizens to be aware of such fraudulent immigration activities and not fall prey to fake promises of travel agents offering lucrative job opportunities abroad, especially in South-East Asian Countries. It is also advised that the background of the prospective employer is checked thoroughly especially when work is offered in the name of ‘Data entry operator’ job and to not undertake any illegal cyber activities and reach out to the Indian Embassy, she added.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, has also set up an Overseas Workers Resource Centre (OWRC) as a single-window facilitation centre, to provide the required support services to persons desirous of going abroad for employment purposes – it is operating a 24x7 helpline (1800113090) to provide need based information to emigrants and their families through a toll free number.
