On the lookout for lucrative jobs abroad, Abhishek Negi and Ashish Tyagi approached a former colleague who offered to help them land a job with a Chinese company in Thailand, with a salary of about $1,000 a month plus incentives. Unaware of what lay ahead, Abhishek also brought along his cousin Gaurav Bisht.

They were later persuaded to join a company in Myanmar. In March 2024, they took a flight from Delhi, and midway through their journey, they were warned by a fellow passenger that their destination, Myawaddy, was a “shady place.” At Yangon airport, unknown individuals were waiting to take them to the company’s location. Growing suspicious, the three contacted the Indian Embassy instead, which arranged their deportation back to India, as per a CBI case registered in August 2024.

Not everyone was so fortunate. Hundreds of Indian citizens never made it out in time. They were trapped and enslaved inside cyber scam hubs, particularly in Cambodia, Myanmar and Lao PDR. Responding to a Rajya Sabha query in February 2026, the government said that 6,998 Indians had been rescued from such centres since 2022— 2,533 from Cambodia, 2,297 from Lao PDR, and 2,168 from Myanmar.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have been probing multiple cases involving human trafficking agents across several States, who were part of networks through which Indian nationals were sent to “cyber slavery” compounds. Many accused have been arrested and charge-sheeted.

Southeast Asia as hub

The menace of cyber scam hubs across Southeast Asian countries has been examined in the Asia/Pacific Group (APG) Yearly Typologies Report 2025. The report noted that Southeast Asia has become a “hub for online fraud operations”, generating tens of billions of dollars annually.

Started in early 2025, and co-led by Indonesia and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the study revealed that the cyber scam hubs impose debt obligations on trafficked individuals, covering costs such as transportation, accommodation and subsistence, which victims are coerced to repay over time.

In many cases, victims or their families are forced to pay between $3,000 to $20,000 to secure their release. Some victims are coerced into luring in others to secure their release. “Victims are compelled to participate in scams, defrauding unsuspecting individuals worldwide, thereby generating direct income for the perpetrators,” said the report.

Another source of earning for these syndicates is to again target their victims by posing as agents capable of recovering stolen funds for a fee.

Physical abuse

Many of these compounds are concentrated in border regions and special economic zones (SEZs), where trafficked individuals working for the cybercrime syndicates are kept in confinement and subjected to physical violence, ranging from beatings with batons and electric shocks to food deprivation and forced drug use. The report mentions victims from various countries, including Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and jurisdictions as far away as Africa.

The criminal networks rely on mule accounts (often belonging to unsuspecting individuals), hawala networks, and cryptocurrencies to launder proceeds from cyber fraud. The report cited a case study on money laundering through Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations.

Based on the existing research and the experience of APG members, the report observed that cyber scam hubs exploit a number of vulnerabilities to establish, expand and diversify their operations. In SEZs, they take advantage of low regulatory oversight and weak law enforcement.

They also exploit complex corporate structures, such as shell companies, trusts and other legal entities, to conceal beneficial ownership. “Professional intermediaries, such as lawyers, accountants, trust and company service providers (TCSPs), and corporate formation agents may either knowingly or inadvertently facilitate the establishment and administration of these structures,” the report said.

“Public officials may directly facilitate or shield these activities in exchange for financial or economic incentives, or they may fail to intervene due to limited capacity, reluctance, or conflicts of interest. Such a compromised governance and regulatory environment significantly undermine oversight mechanisms, allowing cyber scam hubs to operate with minimal scrutiny, reduced risk of detection, and limited exposure to legal accountability,” said the report.

Major challenges

The cross-border nature of cyber scam hubs and human trafficking networks requiring international cooperation and asset recovery, especially when cryptocurrencies are used for routing proceeds of crime, is among the key challenges.

Highlighting the emerging threats, the report said cyber scam hubs are increasingly adopting decentralisation strategies to evade detection and disruption by law enforcement and regulatory authorities. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), through chatbots, deepfakes, voice-cloning and the generation of scam content, is enhancing both the sophistication and efficiency of their operations.

The report recommended that the effective mitigation of the menace required continued monitoring, enhanced regional cooperation, targeted intelligence sharing, and the strengthening of Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism frameworks across member jurisdictions. The complete findings and recommendations of the project will be published in the forthcoming Cyber Scam Hubs and Human Trafficking Report (2026).