A Thane resident's dream job in Cambodia turned into a nightmare. Promised employment in the IT sector through Telegram, Faizan Niyaz Pathan from Mumbra arrived on March 17th to Cambodia. His captors seized his passport and are demanding Rs 10 lakh from his family. His family suspects that he is being held as a hostage over there. He was lured with attractive job offer of 800 dollars per month but once he reached there, they asked him to do a tele chatting job where you have to trap rich people to get money. After he declined to do the job, a telegram user by the name Ming Bunny who has a mandarin (Chinese) language profile photo pressurized Pathan’s wife to pay him the money. This case exposes a potential job scam preying on the desperation of job seekers.
Just 3 months ago, Pathan got married to Fatima and both of them lived in Mumbra's Dosti Mhada area. Fatima is worried about her husband’s safety now. It is understood that the location where he is kept is Mycasino Building, Phnom Pneh, Cambodia. While speaking to LokmatTimes.com, Fatima said, “The IT company’s HR who calls himself as Bunny is threatening me to give 2 lakh Rs. They have also blackmailed us to increase the amount to Rs 10 lakhs and then only, they will release my husband. My husband got the job offer related to IT sector via Telegram. We thought, it is a genuine offer, so I was ready to send him. Our financial condition is not good. How will we pay such a big amount?”
Fatima told she interacted with her husband few times via video call, and he was very scared and tired. Pathan’s brother Fayaz told, “Bunny has not revealed his real identity yet. Visa process of my brother was done through Bunny, but he didn’t provide any offer letter. He said that it is an IT company named E Commerce. But once my brother reached there, Bunny layed a trap and asked my brother to do a call center job that involved phishing activities. However, he declined to to the job and hence Bunny is demanding money from us.”
Bunny interacted with Fatima through telegram and even called her several times to transfer her the demanded money. “I want my husband back at any cost. They have snatched his passport from him. His life could be in danger.” NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad highlighted the incident on X (Formerly known as Twitter). “MEA officials should take note of this. The victim should immediately be released, and awareness should be created regarding such fraud jobs”, told Awhad.
There were concerning reports of a employment scam happening in Cambodia since last few years. In October 2022, India rescued 108 of their nationals who fell victims to job rackets in Cambodia. Some fraudulent IT companies appear to be engaged in digital scamming and forged cryptocurrencies. The Indian workers were held captive and forced to commit cyber fraud.