India is preparing to repatriate nearly 500 of its nationals who fled a cyber-scam centre in Myanmar’s conflict-torn borderlands following a military operation that exposed one of Southeast Asia’s largest digital fraud networks. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirmed on Wednesday that India will dispatch a special flight to pick up the rescued individuals directly from Mae Sot, the Thai town bordering Myanmar.
“They don’t want this to burden us,” Anutin told reporters. “They will send a plane to pick these victims up. The plane will land directly in Mae Sot.”
The operation comes days after the Myanmar military raided KK Park, a notorious cybercrime hub near the Thai border, forcing over 1,500 people from 28 countries to flee into Thailand. Many of those now awaiting evacuation are Indian citizens who were trafficked to Myanmar under the guise of high-paying IT or customer-service jobs.
KK Park: The Epicentre of a Global Scam Industry
The KK Park compound, long associated with online scams, human trafficking, and forced labour, has become a symbol of Southeast Asia’s digital underworld. According to the United Nations, billions of dollars have been siphoned through similar scam compounds across Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand — economies of exploitation that surged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The camps, run primarily by Chinese criminal syndicates and protected by Myanmar’s pro-junta militias, function like corporate call centres — only with barbed wire and armed guards. Victims are coerced into operating romance scams, cryptocurrency fraud, and investment cons targeting people across the globe.
While Myanmar’s military claims to be cracking down, analysts say the raids are selective — aimed at placating Beijing, which has demanded action against criminal groups exploiting Chinese nationals.
India Steps In as Thai Authorities Process the Fleeing Workers
In Bangkok, Indian Ambassador Nagesh Singh has been coordinating with Thai immigration and border authorities to expedite identification and legal clearances. Thai officials said that Indian diplomats have been assisting in verifying passports and biometric records for those rescued.
Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that “the embassy is working with Thai authorities to verify nationality and repatriate them after the necessary legal formalities are completed.”
This is not the first such operation. Earlier this year, India had flown out hundreds of its nationals after similar rescues from Myanmar’s scam hubs near Myawaddy, underscoring the growing scale of trafficking from India to cybercrime syndicates in Southeast Asia.
A Crisis Rooted in Trafficking and Deception
Many of those trapped in Myanmar’s scam compounds were victims of fake job offers — a phenomenon that has ensnared thousands of Indians, Filipinos, Nepalis, and Chinese nationals over the past two years. Recruited online for “remote” or “tech” roles, they were flown to Thailand and then trafficked across the border into Myanmar’s militia-controlled territories.
Once inside, they were stripped of their passports and forced to work 16-hour days running online frauds. Those who failed to meet targets faced beatings, starvation, or even sale to other compounds.
As the rescued Indians wait to board their flight home, questions persist about how many remain trapped. Human rights organizations estimate that tens of thousands of foreign nationals are still imprisoned in such scam complexes across the Mekong region — victims of a global crime network that blends technology, trafficking, and impunity.
