India airlifts 270 nationals from Thailand who fled Myanmar's cyber scam hub

In a major rescue and repatriation effort, India on Thursday brought back 270 of its nationals, including 26 women from Thailand’s Mae Sot town after they allegedly escaped from cyber scam centres operating across the border in Myanmar’s Myawaddy region.

The operation was coordinated by the Embassy of India in Bangkok and the Consulate in Chiang Mai in close collaboration with Thai authorities. Two special Indian Air Force (IAF) flights were deployed to ferry the rescued citizens back home.

According to official sources, the Indian nationals were detained by Thai authorities for illegally crossing the border from Myanmar, where they were reportedly employed in cyber fraud syndicates. “The repatriation was facilitated in coordination with various agencies of the Royal Thai Government,” the Indian Embassy in Thailand said.

Many of the rescued individuals are believed to have been victims of job scams, lured with false promises of lucrative IT employment opportunities, only to find themselves forced into online fraud operations in lawless enclaves run by transnational criminal syndicates.

The embassy added that both Indian Missions in Thailand and Myanmar are continuing efforts to secure the release and return of more nationals still stranded in Myanmar’s scam hubs.

The repatriation comes days after New Delhi confirmed plans to bring back around 500 Indians trapped in similar circumstances in Thailand and Myanmar following a crackdown on cybercrime operations by Myanmar’s military in the notorious KK Park compound and nearby zones.

Indian authorities have once again cautioned citizens against falling prey to fake job offers abroad, urging them to verify the credentials of recruiting agents and employers before accepting overseas employment. “Visa-free entry into Thailand for Indian passport holders is meant strictly for tourism and short business visits and should not be misused for employment,” officials said.

Over the past year, India has carried out multiple repatriation missions from Southeast Asia, as regional governments move to dismantle cyber scam networks that have trafficked thousands of foreign nationals into forced online fraud work.

International agencies, including the United Nations, have estimated that tens of thousands of people — many of them young IT professionals from South and Southeast Asia — remain trapped in such centres across Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, where they are coerced into committing large-scale financial scams.