Captured, tortured, and coerced to commit cybercrime Premium

Indian MBA graduate lured into illegal job scam in Cambodia, rescued by police after harrowing experience, warns against job fraud.

In June last year, Kalpampenchala Sai Mukesh, 30, an MBA graduate from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, landed in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, with a dream of making earning big money and make his family proud. His father, Ramesh Kalpampenchala, a former employee of Vizag Steel Plant, a PSU under Union Ministry of Steel, had a brain stroke in 2019, leaving the family without their main source of income.

On June 27, he joined Globex at a salary of $700 (approximately ₹59,000) per month, along with additional perks. The company is located behind a legally-run casino in Krong Kampot, a city on the Preaek Tuek Chhu river in southern Cambodia, known for its pepper plantations and salt fields. He was overjoyed to explore the city and its beauty.

“I was mesmerised by the beauty of Cambodia. I even thought of taking my parents on a pleasure trip once I settled there. But, alas!” says Mukesh, whose joy was short-lived.

He was trained for a week, and instructed to create fake profiles on various social media platforms. During the first few days, he realised that he was supposed to ‘attract’ gullible people and dupe them. What he also understood was that his job was illegal. He had been told earlier that it was a data entry operator job in Cambodia, by his Indian agent, Ch. Rajesh, 35, from Andhra Pradesh.

Mukesh was shattered and wanted to escape his workplace as well as the country as soon as possible. “I decided to quit. I gave a verbal notice to my immediate superior who told me to be ready with at least $4,500 to quit the job. My salary was $700 per month. So, I lost hope,” he adds.

However, his plans to flee Cambodia caught the attention of his superiors at the workplace. He was not allowed to leave his small room provided by his employer, who kept him under close watch.

“This was not just my situation here. Job-seekers like me from various parts of India and elsewhere in the world, who had dreamt of earning more, were facing the same trouble. I was even beaten up by the company staff,” says Mukesh over a WhatsApp call from Cambodia, adding that he used the medicines a few days before he safely reached the Indian Embassy in that country. He added that the torture left the feet injured, and he used the medicines he’d carried to treat himself. “I kept my mind strong and waited for that right opportunity,” a teary-eyed Mukesh said.