KARIMNAGAR: Four youths from Jagtial district have escaped from the clutches of an international cyber mafia in Laos and returned home safely with the help of some Telugu-speaking individuals. They have since lodged a complaint against the agent who sent them to the Southeast Asian country with the promise of good jobs.
The youths were trapped by an agent who sent them to Laos, where they were forced to engage in cybercrime. They have been identified as Yedlapalli Mahesh and Gandla Anil Kumar, both natives of Thatlavai village; Chelumula Praveen Kumar of Allipur village, and Ayyori Mohan of Jagtial town. The agent has been identified as Gajarla Vamshi, a native of Raikal mandal.
Vamshi collected `2 lakh from each of them and sent them to Laos via Bangkok, through middlemen, with the promise of data entry jobs. However, after reaching Laos, the four were initially given jobs involving Bitcoin sales and promotion. Soon after, they were forced into cyber fraud.
They were instructed to make fake phone calls to people, extract sensitive information such as bank account details, and withdraw money from their accounts. After realising how the people working there were cheating others through Facebook and Instagram, the four refused to continue with their assigned work.
However, the company's representatives harassed and punished them, even denying them proper meals.
The youths revealed that a man named Bose acted as the HR manager, while another individual, Roman alias Raj Kumar, a native of Dharmapuri mandal in Jagtial district, worked under him. Roman was responsible for hiring agents to recruit unemployed youths for the company.
Upon their arrival in Laos, the mafia assigned them Chinese names and handed them iPhones, which were used to carry out cybercrimes. They reported that the scam involved making fake phone calls, primarily targeting Indian nationals.
