Nearly 250 Indian nationals who were forced into performing cyber fraud schemes in Cambodia have already been repatriated by the Indian government, according to The Hacker News.
Threat actors have enticed victims with job opportunities in the Southeast Asian country only to be coerced into doing illegal cyber activities, noted India's Ministry of External Affairs, which emphasized the cooperation between India and Cambodia in clamping down the perpetrators. Similar actions to rescue individuals held captive to conduct pig butchering schemes have also been done by China and the Philippines.
Such developments come amid a recent Chainalysis study noting that nearly $100 million has already been amassed by a cryptocurrency wallet used by a major Myanmar pig butchering operation, some of which is believed to be from the families of the hostaged cyber fraudsters. Chinese organized crime groups have also been noted by the U.S. State Department to have been enlisting Africans and Asians proficient in English to be part of "scam factories" across Southeast Asia.
