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LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 827
ANSWERED ON- 29/11/2024

INDIAN WORKERS STRANDED IN SOUTH EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES

827. SHRI RAJA RAM SINGH

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state :-

(a) whether a large number of Indian workers are stranded in South East Asian Countries mostly in Cambodia on the pretext of cyber slavery as reported in Indian Express dated 29 September, 2024;

(b) if so, the current status thereof indicating the number of workers yet to return;

(c) whether the Government is contemplating any action to prevent Indians getting trapped in such situations like cyber slavery;

(d) if so, the details thereof along with the countries where Indian Nationals are held captive, country-wise;

(e) whether the Ministry of External Affairs has received any missing complaints related to the people who are stranded in those countries and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the status of the action taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to get back Indian Nationals from South East Asia?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a to f) It has come to the notice of the Government instances of dubious firms involved in fake recruitment job offers having lured Indian nationals mostly through social media channels to South-East Asian countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR and made them to carry out cyber crime and other fraudulent activities from scam centres operating in these countries. The exact number of Indian nationals stuck in these countries is not known as Indian nationals reach these scam centres on their own volition through fraudulent/unscrupulous recruitment agents/agencies and through illegal channels.

Government accords utmost priority to the safety, security and well-being of Indian nationals abroad. Government of India has raised this issue at political level with the host Government from time to time. Missions/Posts take up the issue of rescue and repatriation of Indian nationals actively with the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other concerned Government agencies of the host country like Immigration, Labour Department, Home Affairs, Defence and Border Affairs and law enforcement agencies. With the concerted efforts of our Embassies in the Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar, the number of Indian nationals including software engineers rescued till date is mentioned in the table below:

The Government has established various channels to enable Indian nationals abroad to reach out to the Mission/Post concerned in case they need any assistance. They can contact the Missions/Posts through walk-in interview, email, multilingual 24x7 emergency numbers, grievance redressal portal like MADAD, CPGAMS, and eMigrate, and social media etc. The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up the ‘Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre’ (I4C) as an attached office to deal with all types of cyber crime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.

Ministry issues advisories and social media posts about the fake job rackets from time to time. Similar communications are also issued by the respective Indian Missions/Posts abroad through their official websites, social media handles and print media. Our Missions in South-East Asian countries issued various detailed advisories, upon receiving such information on Indian nationals being lured by fake job rackets in South-East countries, to job seekers, and advise them to verify all antecedents of recruiting agents and companies before accepting any kind of employment offer and not be enticed and entrapped in the fraudulent job offers in these countries.

Ministry, in coordination with the Indian Missions/Posts abroad and offices of Protectors of Emigrants in India, take quick and decisive action whenever instances of exploitation of job seekers by illegal agents come to notice. A list of 3,094 unregistered agents (till October 2024) has been notified on e-Migrate portal. This information is regularly updated based on the complaints filed by the aggrieved individuals and based on the inputs received from our Missions/Posts abroad. The complaint against the illegal agents and the dubious firms luring Indian youth in false recruitment offers through various channels are regularly shared with the respective State Governments and other agencies such as I4C, MHA for suitable action. To spread awareness on cyber crime, the Central Government has taken steps which inter-alia include, dissemination of relevant information through SMS, I4C social media account, radio campaigns, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple channels, organizing cyber safety and security awareness weeks in association with States/UTs, newspaper advertisement on digital arrest scams, announcements in Delhi Metros on digital arrest, and other modus operandi of cyber crimes.