VOI World/ Desk
What began as a job promise turned into a nightmare for Ashwani Kumar from Haryana and dozens of Indians trafficked into a cyber scam network spanning Dubai, Thailand, and Cambodia. Kumar, along with Binder Sodhi and Raman, escaped after months of captivity and reached the Indian Embassy in Cambodia last July, exposing a racket that had forced hundreds of Indians into executing online scams.
Kumar’s ordeal started in March 2024, when recruiter Ali Khumeni lured him with a data-entry job in Dubai for ₹40,000. On arrival, Kumar and others were trained at a call centre run by a Chinese national, where they were ordered to target Indians through fraudulent calls. Those who resisted faced beatings and threats.
From Dubai, the group was shifted to Bangkok and then taken across the Cambodian border into a large complex in Krong Poi Pet. Here, Kumar claimed, nearly 600 Indians were forced into similar scams under constant surveillance, their passports confiscated to prevent escape. Workers who attempted to flee were publicly thrashed to instill fear.
Kumar and his companions seized their one monthly chance to leave for supplies, took a taxi, and reached the Indian Embassy, which arranged their return to India. His email complaint later led Delhi Police’s IFSO unit to arrest Khumeni in Meerut, where he admitted to working for a Chinese cyber fraud racket. Several others linked to the scam were arrested through 2024 and early 2025.
Kumar has since returned to Dubai, working as a security guard to support his family. The investigation, led by Delhi Police, continues to uncover the scale of the trafficking and cybercrime nexus.
