We must make youth seeking greener pastures abroad aware of these dangers. Jobseekers must bear in mind that if a job offer is too good to be true, it may not be true
Yet another Goan youth, who was pushed into cyber slavery at the notorious KK Park scamming compound in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ), managed to return home safely on March 12, 2025. Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rescued 549 people trapped in GTSEZ scamming compounds, including the young engineer from Tiswadi.
Interestingly, using clues from his complaint, the cybercrime cell of the Goa Police nabbed three members of an international trafficking gang – 22-year-old Talaniti Nulaxi, a Chinese-origin Kazakhstan national was arrested from Delhi Airport; Coimbatore native 22-year-old Adithya Ravichandran from Bengaluru and 36-year-old Rupnarayan Gupta from Mumbai – for trafficking people from India to Southeast Asian countries and pushing them into cyber slavery. These arrests underline the fact that international trafficking gangs are actively targeting Goan youth and pushing them into cyber slavery.
Incidentally, in August last year, two individuals from Margao were also rescued from the same KK Park after enduring years of harrowing ordeals. Jobseekers from across the globe have shared horrifying experiences about these compounds.
In all the above Goan cases, the same modus operandi was followed. They were lured with an easy-to-do yet high paying job either through social media advertisements or through some dubious agents including Goan agents. They were taken to Thailand on a tourist visa with an assurance that they will be given job visas only if they like the work and decide to stay back. Upon arrival in Thailand, their passports and other travel documents were snatched away from them. They were then trafficked to the spamming compounds and made to work as cyber slaves. Concerns have been raised that several more Goan youth might be still trapped in such compounds.
Despite being from the field of IT, I personally found it difficult to comprehend that many individuals who engage in spamming and make others victims of cybercrime are themselves victims of cyber slavery. Cyber slavery, as it emerges, is a relatively recent phenomenon that gained prominence in the post-Covid era and primarily occurs in certain regions of countries like Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia etc.
The cyber slaves are primarily sourced through human trafficking, targeting youth mostly from Southeast Asian countries. The region notorious as a hub for these activities is the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ). Located in Laos, this area is surrounded by the Mekong river and sits at the confluence of three countries – Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
China launched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 to connect itself with 150 countries. This BRI project fuelled unprecedented infrastructure development in the GTSEZ region, primarily driven by Chinese companies, with the Kings Romans Group being a prominent player. Given the insurgencies, coups, civil wars and poverty in the surrounding areas, few seemed to question this disproportionate, lawless growth.
Large five-star hotels, casinos and other entertainment facilities rapidly emerged. Alongside this development, human trafficking, drug trade, wildlife trafficking, illegal gambling and money laundering flourished. Attracted by its glamour, the rich and the famous as well as the underworld, from China, and across the globe, flocked to these areas. And then Covid struck! Due to China’s strict entry and exit norms during the pandemic, along with restrictions imposed by other countries, the flow of wealthy individuals to this region dwindled to a trickle.
Now, the question arose: What should be done with the state-of-the-art luxury towns that were now turning into ghost towns? It was during this time that several Chinese companies began using the area for spamming operations. Hotels were converted into offices and other infrastructure was similarly repurposed to develop scamming compounds like KK Park. Young people were trafficked into these compounds from across the world and forced to fraud people through cyber crimes under exploitative conditions.
Spamming compounds in GTSEZ function as heavily fortified criminal enclaves, guarded by a mix of Myanmar-linked armed groups (UWSA, Border Guard Forces), Chinese private security and the local Lao military. This high level of security ensures that once individuals enter these compounds, they cannot leave of their own free will. Each compound houses between 10,000 to 20,000 people, all forced to engage in spamming centred around financial frauds. They are made to work for over 14 hours a day, with no holidays, inadequate food, amid extremely unhygienic living conditions. Those who fail to scam and extract money from people or resist orders face severe punishment. If a cyber slave wants to return home, they are forced to demand ransom from their families, often amounting to several lakhs of rupees and released only if their demands are met.
There is a dire need to make our youth seeking greener pastures abroad aware of these dangers. Jobseekers must bear in mind that, if a job offer is too good to be true, it may not be true! They ought to be extremely cautious and thoroughly verify all details. Going abroad is vastly different from moving to another state in India. Once outside the country, returning can be difficult and even dangerous if things go wrong. Jobseekers must always ensure that they have a proper job visa – there are no shortcuts. Any company or agent claiming otherwise is likely fraudulent.
(Sangeeta Naik is an IT professional based in Goa.)
