Desperate to clear his debts and build a home, 25-year-old Vishnu trusted a 'job agent' and flew to Bangkok from Chennai on 26 April. But from the moment he landed, things started to go south.
Published Aug 06, 2025 | 3:45 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 06, 2025 | 6:22 PM
Vishnu from Kollam is one of the lucky few to escape the horrors of a trafficking ring operating along the Myanmar border.
Synopsis: A Keralite youth, PS Vishnu, found himself trafficked after accepting a fraudulent job offer and was held captive earlier this year at a Chinese-run scam compound near the Myanmar border, alongside hundreds of fellow Indians who were allegedly forced to defraud people back home via social media under threats of torture. He escaped by pretending to be unfit for the scam work, but not before his family paid a ₹5 lakh ransom to secure his release.
For several months, he was only a number: A023. To the Chinese-run scam centre near the Myanmar border, 25-year-old PS Vishnu from Kollam, Kerala, wasn’t a person, just a product – trafficked by agents, tagged with a code, and resold like merchandise.
But quick thinking helped Vishnu escape. He pretended not to know Hindi or English, making himself seem “defective” and worthless to his abductors.
Instead of being forced into their global online scam operation, they let him go, but not before demanding a hefty ransom from his family.
Now finally home, he hears his name again, from loved ones who never gave up. But he is among the few to have escaped the horrors of a trafficking ring that has trapped countless Indians with fake job offers, only to push them into a form of modern day slavery: scamming, often targeting fellow Indians.
Earlier this year, Vishnu came across a driver’s job in Jordan offering a salary of 750 JOD, advertised by an agency on Facebook.
He paid ₹20,000 as a processing fee and received an e-visa, although his name was misspelt. Sensing something was off, he contacted the Kerala Government’s Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA), which advised him to scan the QR code on the visa. It led to Jordan’s official website, confirming it was genuine.
Reassured, Vishnu paid the full visa amount to Vipin, an agent in Karunagappally. But soon after, Vipin claimed the job vacancy was no longer available. To make up for it, he offered another opportunity: an accounting job at a casino in Bangkok. Vipin said a relative of his was involved and assured Vishnu that he wouldn’t have to pay a single rupee.
Desperate to clear his debts and build a home, Vishnu trusted the agent and flew to Bangkok from Chennai on 26 April. But from the moment he landed, things started to go south.
Kollam MP N.K. Premachandran paid a visit to Vishnu at his home
“A security person approached me with my photo and took me to a hotel. I didn’t pay for anything. Vipin, the agent, said the employer was covering all costs. That night, I was told we’d start a 9-hour journey to avoid traffic. At 1 am a group came, again with my photo,” Vishnu recalled.
A North Indian woman joined him, and they were taken through remote areas, eventually reaching a forested location with several other Indians and African nationals. There, they lost phone signal. A group arrived and wrote numbers on their hands.
What followed was a harrowing off-road journey through 13 pickup vans and river crossings on local boats. Armed, masked bikers waited across the Salween River.
“We rode with them for 4 hours through hills, it felt like near death,” Vishnu recounted to South First. “At one point I got a network signal and called Amal, a contact Vipin had given me. He claimed the journey was routine to avoid police, since my visa allowed entry only into Bangkok. I believed him.
He continued: “When we reached a hotel and I hesitated to give up my luggage, Amal said the company would handle it. They took my luggage on a tractor and us in a car.”
Eventually, they arrived at a heavily guarded compound. A Chinese man, described as the “boss,” welcomed Vishnu into one building. The girl and the others were taken elsewhere.
“That was the last time I saw the outside world. It was hell,” Vishnu said.
Vishnu says he arrived at the compound on 28 April for what he believed would be the start of a legitimate job. The company claimed there would be a 15-day training period to learn the ropes. But the nature of the work soon became clear – it was online scamming, targeting Indians.
“The first thing my Chinese boss did was take away my phone. They told me I had a 15-day training period to learn the job. But the job turned out to be scamming. I was shocked,” Vishnu said.
“We were told to use social media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram to trap Indians, more like a honeytrap scam.”
The live location map shared by Vishnu.
One of the key players, Vishnu said, was a young woman from Delhi, a model who worked directly with the Chinese handlers. Her role was central to the scam.
“All the workers used her photos and details to chat with targets. Whenever someone asked for a video call, she would handle it. She said she didn’t want to return to India and felt no guilt about cheating her own countrymen. Her plan was to earn as much money as possible and settle in Dubai,” he added.
Vishnu noted that most of the Indian workers around him had been brought in from northern states such as Haryana and Punjab. Many were promised seemingly legitimate jobs – packing or warehouse work in Europe or Southeast Asia – only to find themselves sold into scam networks.
“The agents took money from them and also got paid by the Chinese companies, about 3,000 US dollars per head. It was basically human trafficking, selling people into these scam rackets,” he said.
“But I had seen the news and realised what I’d walked into. I knew I had to find a way out. So, I pretended I didn’t know Hindi. Most of the Indian targets were from the northern states, so not knowing Hindi made me useless to them. Even though I had studied Hindi in school back in Kerala, pretending not to know the language opened me a way to escape.”
Many North Indian workers willingly participated in the scam work, according to Vishnu, because of the high commissions. But he also met victims who had lost everything. Some had sold their land and homes to pay agents, while others had died by suicide.
Many avoided going to the police out of shame, especially those trapped through honeytraps. What shocked Vishnu most was a map inside the compound. It reportedly displayed Indian cities with the highest number of scam “customers”.
Detention centre
Among those listed – Delhi, Mumbai, Noida, Chennai, Goa, Kochi, and Bangalore – it was Kochi and Bangalore that stood out on the hotlist, with the highest number of scam targets.
“These Chinese operators didn’t know our states, but they knew these cities well,” Vishnu said.
Punishments for failing to scam even one person a day were brutal. Workers were made to carry full water cans up and down from the first to the sixth floor until they fainted, and then were beaten with laptop and mouse wires in front of others to instil fear.
Vishnu himself was attacked after saying he didn’t know Hindi or enough English. Undeterred, he pretended to be untrainable, acting like he couldn’t even type.
The worst torture, he said, was being shot with electric guns. North Indian workers were kept in separate cells, given only a packet of noodles at night, and beaten continuously for over 20 days.
“One of them became deaf from the punishment,” Vishnu said. “They know no one will come looking for these boys.”
The daily work shift at the compound ran from 11 am until 2 am, Vishnu recalled. After three North Indian workers went missing, a group initiated a strike. In response, the company allowed workers limited access to their phones, but only after 2 am.
“But whom could we even call at that hour?” Vishnu recalled. “Most relatives wouldn’t answer at that time. But luckily, my family and cousins were all awake, waiting anxiously for even a single message from me.”
He shared his live location and informed them about the human trafficking and scam operation. His relatives acted quickly, alerting local representatives and media outlets.
Once the story made the news, local agents panicked and reached out to Jaison, the Chinese agent who had recruited and handled many Indian workers. Even then, Vishnu’s Chinese boss tried to sell him to another scam company, this one focused specifically on targeting Indians.
“Each company targets a different country,” he explained. “They interviewed me, but I pretended I didn’t know computers, Hindi, or English. That saved me again.” Left with no other option, the boss agreed to release him in exchange for a ransom of ₹5 lakh, which his relatives managed to send.
“What’s truly horrifying,” Vishnu added, “is that if you check Thai news, you’ll see reports of dead bodies floating in the river, many with numbers written on their hands, just like mine.”
On 8 July, the company finally let him go, only to rob the cash he was carrying and abandon him near the border.
On 9 July, Vishnu began his journey back to Bangkok by bus, unaware that he was walking into another trap. Caught by border police and locked in a detention centre, he became one of many Indians deceived by international job scam networks.
While Pakistani embassy officials routinely secured the release of their citizens, Vishnu spent nearly a month behind bars, alone, without a single visit from the Indian embassy. His release came only after his family allegedly sent money to the police.
According to his cousin Balu, Kollam MP NK Premachandran raised the issue in Parliament and even mentioned Vishnu by name, drawing some official attention.
When South First contacted Kollam police, officials admitted that delays from the Ministry of External Affairs were the main hurdle.
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“Since it’s linked to Myanmar, the case is very complicated,” one officer said.
Now back home, Vishnu and his family are fighting to rescue four more Keralites still trapped in similar scams. Following his escape, the Myanmar military rescued 41 Indians, including four from Kerala, who remain in the custody of border guards.
Among them is Shine from Thiruvananthapuram, who was lured by a Kashmiri agent. His only family is an elderly mother who doesn’t even know how to answer a phone call.
Others include Masud Ali, Suhail, Shammu – all young men promised jobs in Europe and training in Thailand. “This network is terrifying. We sent money to Indian bank accounts. They have hundreds of them,” Vishnu said.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
