Palwal youths trafficked to Myanmar cyber-fraud hub, escape after months of forced work

Two young men from Haryana’s Palwal district were rescued after months of captivity inside a cyber-fraud compound in Myanmar, where they were forced to run online scams under Chinese handlers. The victims — Aakash from Bhindoli and Arvind from Sahnoli — were lured through a fake online job advertisement promising salaries of ₹80,000 per month.

According to their complaint filed at the Palwal Cyber Police Station, the youths were contacted by a man identified as Rafaq alias Rahi from Jammu & Kashmir, who posed as an HR manager for a company in Myanmar. He arranged their travel and instructed them to reach Yangon. After their arrival, the two were kept in a hotel for two days before being taken by foreign nationals into a remote border region notorious for cyber-fraud operations.

The men said they were threatened at gunpoint, forced to cross a river by boat, and taken to “KK Park,” one of Myanmar’s most infamous scam compounds. There, Chinese operators trained them to create fake female profiles on Facebook and target Indians living in the US. Their phone numbers were handed over to a Chinese “team leader,” who controlled their WhatsApp accounts and warned them never to disclose any information.

On 22 October, the situation inside the compound changed after several Chinese men allegedly assaulted a woman, prompting a military crackdown in the area. As the handlers fled, the victims seized the opportunity to escape, crossing the river again and reaching the Thailand border.

In Thailand, they surrendered to authorities and contacted the Indian Embassy. Despite being fined for illegal border entry, they were provided shelter and legal assistance. The embassy facilitated their repatriation on 10 November.

Back in India, the men have filed formal complaints. Police have registered FIRs and are now searching for Rafaq alias Rahi and investigating the broader trafficking and cybercrime network active across the Myanmar–Thailand belt.