Dear Reader,

Dinabandhu Sahu thought he had found salvation: a stable job abroad, a path to clear his debts, and a brighter future. But when he arrived in Vietnam, his journey twisted into a nightmare. Smuggled into Cambodia, his passport was seized and his days were spent under surveillance, forced to scam strangers to survive.

This isn't a movie plot. The dream of a well-paying job abroad is being manipulated by powerful scam networks operating out of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Once hopeful jobseekers arrive, they are trapped in "cyber-slavery", creating fake investment schemes and preying on unsuspecting victims around the world, including in India. With passports confiscated and escape nearly impossible, they endure endless hours of coercion and fear.

Since the pandemic, these operations have spread like wildfire, fueled by organised crime syndicates with deep pockets and global ambitions. The numbers speak volumes: over 7,000 cybercrime complaints are lodged every day in India, many tied back to these foreign syndicates. Yet, victims like Saddam Sheikh from Maharashtra – duped, trafficked and forced to scam  – return home with nothing but warnings for others.

At Scroll, we’ve closely watched the staggering rise of digital arrest scams and other schemes draining people of their hard-earned money. Now, we're delving deeper. These job scams aren’t just stories – they’re systemic assaults, targeting the most vulnerable among us.

Pay for Unmasking India’s cyber scam crisis by Scroll.in

. Imagine being "digitally arrested" in your own home, by criminals dressed as policemen.. It often starts with a phone call. You are told your phone number is linked to a serious crime. . Or that the customs have intercepted a shipment in your name filled with drugs.. Even though they know they are innocent, most Indians will do anything to avoid a brush with the law. These scamsters prey on these fears, duping people into giving away their life's savings.. . It's big business: Indians could lose Rs 1.2 trillion to cyber frauds over the next year, government data suggests.. . Scroll wants to unearth how these scams work by tracing them to their source: South East Asia.. . Fund our investigative reporting in Cambodia, where criminal syndicates have trapped Indians as cyber slaves to fleece others back home.. . Armed with ground reporting, we will join the dots, explaining how a range of shifts in recent years have combined to create fertile conditions for these frauds: rampant data leaks, abuse of Aadhaar, lack of digital privacy, political misuse of investigative agencies, a jobs crisis, and more.. . Our series will also tell you what you can do to protect yourself, and if you have been scammed, how you can seek redress..

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Your support will allow us to investigate and share stories that can protect someone from making a decision that could cost them dearly. Back our mission to shed light on the hidden machinery behind these scams.
Sincerely,
Team Scroll