RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-1348
ANSWERED ON- 11/12/2025
TRAFFICKING AND EXTORTION OF INDIAN YOUTH IN GULF/ARAB COUNTRIES
1348. SHRI SANT BALBIR SINGH
Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state :-
(a) whether Government is aware of growing incidents where Indian youth are lured to Gulf countries, including Iraq and Iran, with false promises of lucrative jobs and later held captive by trafficking networks;
(b) whether Government has any specific intelligence or reports regarding circulation of explicit or coercive videos used by these racketeers to extort large sums of money from victims’ families and if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the concrete steps being taken by Government to identify such trafficking networks, ensuring strict action against agents involved and creating awareness among potential Indian migrant workers?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a to c) It has come to the notice of the Government instances of dubious entities involved in fake recruitment job offers having lured Indian nationals including youth mostly through social media channels for overseas employment to various countries.
Ministry comes to know about such fraudulent activities of illegal/unscrupulous recruitment agents/agencies in the country as and when a complaint is filed by aggrieved emigrants or their relatives/friends/family members, who have been cheated by their employers, as these Indian nationals proceed abroad 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 proceeding for employment abroad. As per The Emigration Act 1983, no person/agency can function as Recruiting Agent (RA) without a valid license issued by the Registering Authority i.e. Protector General of Emigrants. Mandatory registration of RA is aimed to reduce fraud and exploitation of prospective Indian emigrants proceeding for employment abroad. It is also mandatory for ECR passport holders proceeding for employment to any of the 19 notified Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries to obtain Emigration Clearance (EC) from the office of the Protector of Emigrants (POE).
As and when complaints against the illegal agents/dubious firms luring Indian youth in false recruitment offers through various channels are received, such matters are referred to the State police for investigation and prosecution under the relevant legal provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and other legislation in place including the ones enacted by the some State Governments. In the Cyber domain, action is also taken against illegal recruiting agents in association with Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), MHA and State Police authorities. Requests to take down social media posts of illegal Recruiting Agents from all over India have been regularly shared with I4C.
Ministry also issues advisories through eMigrate portal, social media handles and other modes of publicity about the perils of fake job rackets and ways to prevent the same. Till October 2025, a total of 3,505 unregistered agents in country have been notified on the eMigrate portal. The awareness campaign on safe and legal migration through eMigrate portal is carried out by the Ministry across the country from time to time by conducting workshops, trainings, information sessions, digital campaigns for media groups, police officials and law enforcement agencies, local administration, aspiring recruiting agents, entrepreneurs and general public. During these sessions awareness on emigration regulations, schemes beneficial for emigrants like Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana (PBBY), Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT), eMigrate portal and various advisories issued by Indian Embassies are brought to the notice of all stakeholders including job seekers, and advise them to verify all antecedents of Recruiting Agents before accepting any kind of employment offer and not be enticed and entrapped in the fraudulent job offers.
*****