Tushar Ranpara’s homecoming to Vadodara on November 14, 2025, was nothing short of miraculous. For over a year, the 26-year-old had vanished into the shadowy underworld of Southeast Asia, a victim of a sprawling international human trafficking and cybercrime syndicate. The promise that lured him—a six-figure salary and all-inclusive accommodation in Thailand—had, in reality, been a carefully baited trap. Instead of the better life he’d hoped for, Ranpara found himself trafficked into Myanmar, imprisoned, tortured, and forced to work in a cyber scam operation targeting unsuspecting victims abroad.
His ordeal is not an isolated one. According to The Indian Express, Ranpara was among 197 Indian nationals repatriated from Thailand in military aircraft following a dramatic escape from captivity after a military raid in Myanmar’s notorious Myawaddy ‘scam city’. His story, echoed by many others, exposes the grim realities of modern-day trafficking and the sophisticated cybercrime networks flourishing in Southeast Asia. The recent crackdown and subsequent rescues have thrown a harsh spotlight on the mechanics of these syndicates and the efforts underway to dismantle them.
Ranpara’s journey into this nightmare began in September 2024. Working as a blue-collar employee in a Dubai hotel, he was approached by a Kerala-based agent with what seemed like a golden opportunity. After a video interview with a group of Chinese men, he was told he’d been selected for a lucrative call center job in Thailand. The agent arranged his travel from Dubai to Thailand via Hyderabad, and upon arrival, a car whisked him away from the airport. But the promised job never materialized. Instead, Ranpara endured a grueling nine-hour drive, not to another Thai city, but across the border into Myanmar’s Myawaddy—a city now infamous as a hub for Chinese mafia-run cybercrime syndicates.
There, the reality set in quickly. Ranpara was forced to sign a contract with a clause stipulating a US$5,000 penalty for leaving before a year, and his passport was confiscated. “Within the first five days, I realized it was a trap,” he told The Indian Express. His new ‘training’ involved learning to operate social media and dating apps, adopting a false female persona, and targeting well-settled Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in the United States for investment and bitcoin scams. The process was chillingly methodical: “They asked me to pose as a woman and taught me how to look for prospective targets… It had to be Indian men, aged over 40 and residing in the US for over 10 years.”
Victims of the scam were lured into fake investment schemes, initially shown profits to build trust before their money was siphoned away. For Ranpara and others trapped in Myawaddy, escape was impossible. Attempts to contact the Indian Embassy in Myanmar proved fruitless, and when he refused to continue working, he was sold to another Chinese gang for US$5,000. The brutality escalated—he was subjected to physical torture, locked in a black room without food, and hung upside down for 15 days at a time. “The second handlers were brutal. They would inflict physical punishment if anyone refused to follow orders,” Ranpara recounted.
Meanwhile, the syndicate’s reach extended across India. In Uttarakhand, the Special Task Force (STF) arrested Sunil, a local agent from Jaspur, Udham Singh Nagar district, for his role in trafficking youths into the same Myanmar cyber scam network. As reported by The New Indian Express, Sunil and other agents lured young men with promises of high-paying jobs, transporting them from Delhi to Bangkok, then illegally across jungles and rivers into Myanmar’s KK Park area. There, the victims were forced to participate in high-pressure calling scams and cyber-fraud schemes. The breakthrough came after a complaint by Mohammad Azam, who was trafficked by Sunil and managed a daring escape on October 22, 2025. Azam reported his ordeal to army personnel at the border, triggering a rescue operation by the Indian Embassy that freed him and 20 other youths from Uttarakhand.
The scale of the problem is staggering. Following the October 22 raid on the KK Park cybercrime hub, nearly 1,500 people—Indians among them—fled across the border into Thailand. In the first week of November 2025, 270 Indian nationals were repatriated in a similar fashion to Ranpara, and the crackdown continued. According to The New Indian Express, these operations were coordinated efforts between Indian authorities and the central government, with ongoing investigations to identify and apprehend more local facilitators connected to the international syndicate.
In Tamil Nadu, the aftermath of the raids prompted the state’s Cyber Crime Wing to launch ‘Blue Triangle’, an operation that led to the arrest of four agents—Manavalan, Rajkumar, Deepak Dona, and Jovin Abishek Rajan—who had trafficked victims from Thanjavur, Cuddalore, and Tiruvarur districts. As reported by The New Indian Express, these agents were instrumental in establishing a cyber scam company named DIY at the KK Park hub, in collaboration with Malaysian operatives. The scams ranged from fake investments to so-called ‘digital arrests’, and the agents were responsible for trafficking at least 18 of the 31 repatriates from Tamil Nadu. Police are now investigating the financial proceeds of these crimes and their international connections.
The repatriated individuals, many of whom had been lured by the prospect of IT or typing jobs, were counseled on the dangers of seeking employment through unregistered and illegal overseas channels. Authorities warned of the risks and illegality of working in cyber scam compounds while on tourist visas, hoping to prevent future cases of recidivism. “Our investigation revealed that these agents played a key role in establishing a cyber scam company named DIY involved in various cyber scams like fake investments, digital arrests, etc., at KK Park, in aid with the Malaysian agents,” said Sandeep Mittal, Additional Director General of Police, Cyber Crime Wing.
For those who survived, the scars—physical and psychological—run deep. Ranpara, who returned home penniless and traumatized, struggled to process the reality that his ordeal had ended. “I do not want to go to any other country…even Dubai, where I was a legal worker. This ordeal has taught me a big lesson. I want to tell anyone who is tempted by big promises or seeking big opportunities to earn quick money abroad that it is dangerous,” he said. His family, overwhelmed with relief, echoed his gratitude to the Indian Embassy and those who aided in his rescue. “I want to thank everyone who helped us in this matter. While many people, including Indians, are also working with the Chinese cyber mafia out of their own will, I wish that those who are trafficked and trapped will be rescued soon just like me.”
As investigations continue and more agents are brought to justice, the stories of survivors like Ranpara, Azam, and hundreds of others serve as a sobering reminder: behind the promise of easy money abroad often lies a far more sinister reality. The fight against these syndicates is far from over, but each rescue and arrest marks a step toward dismantling the machinery of modern slavery and cybercrime.
