Fraudulent overseas job offers: 6,700 Indians rescued from Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos
New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday told Parliament that it has taken note of cases involving dubious firms offering fake recruitment opportunities and luring Indian nationals, mostly through social media channels, to South-East Asian countries. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha that more than 6,700 Indians have so far been rescued from Cambodia, Myanmar and Lao PDR.
What has the government noticed?
Singh stated that “it has come to the notice of the government instances of dubious firms involved in fake recruitment job offers having lured Indian nationals mostly through social media channels to South-East Asian countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR and made them to carry out cyber crime and other fraudulent activities from scam centres operating in these countries.”
He added that the exact number of Indians trapped in such centres remains unknown because many travel on their own through fraudulent or unscrupulous recruitment agents or illegal channels.
How has India responded?
The minister said the government has repeatedly raised the issue at the political level with host countries. He explained that “Missions/Posts take up the issue of rescue and repatriation of Indian nationals actively with the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other concerned government agencies of the host country like immigration, labour department, home affairs, defence and border affairs and law enforcement agencies.”
Singh also shared rescue figures achieved through coordinated efforts by Indian embassies: 2,265 nationals in Cambodia, 2,290 in Lao PDR and 2,165 in Myanmar. The data did not specify the time span of these operations.
How can Indians seek assistance abroad?
According to Singh, the government has created multiple channels for Indians overseas to reach out for help. “They can contact the Missions/Posts through walk-in interview, email, multilingual 24x7 emergency numbers, WhatsApp numbers, grievance redressal portals like MADAD, CPGRAMS, and eMigrate, and social media etc.,” he said.
He noted that the Ministry of Home Affairs has established the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) to coordinate and manage cyber crime cases. Advisories and alerts about fake job rackets are issued regularly by the ministry and by Indian missions abroad through official websites, social media and print media.
Singh added that missions in South-East Asia have also released detailed advisories warning job seekers to verify the background of recruitment agents and companies before accepting offers, and to avoid being “enticed and entrapped in the fraudulent job offers in these countries.”
How many complaints have been filed?
In response to a separate query, Singh said that 16,127 complaints were received from Indian nationals abroad between January 1, 2024 and November 30, 2025. These included 11,195 complaints on the MADAD platform and 4,932 on CPGRAMS.
He explained that MADAD, launched in 2015, aims to assist Indians abroad requiring consular support, while CPGRAMS is an online grievance redressal system available 24x7.
Singh also listed the top ten countries that reported the “maximum distress cases” during 2024–2025, which included Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Oman, Kuwait and Canada.
PTI inputs