The first Interpol operation against fraud schemes fuelled by victims of human trafficking has unearthed further evidence that the trend is expanding beyond the southeast Asian region. Indian enforcement agencies also participated in the exercise.
The fraud schemes included fake cryptocurrency investments, fraudulent work-from-home offers, and lottery and online gambling scams.
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Known as “Operation Storm Makers II”, the Interpol exercise resulted in the arrest of 281 persons in different countries, on charges such as human trafficking, passport forgery, corruption, telecommunications fraud, and sexual exploitation. While 149 human trafficking victims were rescued, over 360 investigations were opened, several of which are still being pursued by law enforcement agencies.
Violations and abuses
According to the Interpol, the Telangana police registered one of the first cases in India of human trafficking committed for the purpose of forcing victims to commit cyber fraud. As it turned out, an accountant was lured to a southeast Asian country, where he was made to participate in the online fraud schemes and subjected to inhuman conditions. He was able to leave following the payment of a ransom.
The growing trend had earlier been highlighted by the Interpol in June, when it said that tens of thousands had been trafficked in southeast Asia, and many more defrauded in different parts of the world. In August, a UN Human Rights Office report took up the issue and found that the frauds ranged from romance-investment scams and crypto fraud to illegal gambling.
“Victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security; and many have been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses,” the UN report said.
Global, billion-dollar scams
“Credible sources indicate that at least 1,20,000 people across Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams, with estimates in Cambodia similarly at around 1,00,000. Other States in the region, including Lao PDR, the Philippines and Thailand, have also been identified as main countries of destination or transit where at least tens of thousands of people have been involved,” the report added, noting that the scam syndicates generated annual revenues amounting to billions of dollars.
The observers noticed that the syndicates were targeting migrants stranded in these countries, many owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, for recruitment into criminal operations on the pretext of offering jobs. “Most people trafficked into the online scam operations are men, although women and adolescents are also among the victims,” it said.
In October, Ugandan law enforcement had reported that several citizens were taken to Dubai on the promise of jobs and then to Myanmar via Thailand. “There, the victims were handed over to an online fraud syndicate and kept under armed guard while being taught to defraud banks,” the Interpol said, adding that over the past year in Myanmar, authorities had reported the rescue of trafficking victims who came from 22 countries.
Victims rescued from India
The Interpol operation also led to the rescue of other human trafficking victims. Among them was a 13-year-old boy from Bangladesh, who had been trafficked to India. He was rescued in coordination with the Interpol National Central Bureaus in both countries, including the Central Bureau of Investigation. Two female victims from Nepal, one aged 17, were also rescued from India and sent back home. “They had been trafficked to New Delhi and trapped in prostitution,” the Interpol said.
Law enforcement agencies in 27 countries across Asia and other regions were mobilised for the operation.
