Relevance: GS-2 (Human Trafficking, IR), GS-3 (Cyber Security, Organised Crime) • Source: The Indian Express; UNODC Reports

Investigations by Indian agencies revealed that hundreds of Indians were trafficked to Myanmar and Cambodia through fake job offers and forced to work in online fraud centres, exposing a larger criminal economy of cyber slavery in Southeast Asia.

What is Cyber Slavery?

Cyber slavery involves trafficking and coercing people into digital crimes—phishing, investment scams, cryptocurrency fraud—under threats of violence. Victims are held in guarded compounds, deprived of passports, and forced to meet daily scam targets.

Why It Is Growing in Southeast Asia

• Political instability in Myanmar, weak rule of law, and militia-controlled territories.
  
• Special Economic Zones used as safe havens for criminal networks.
  
• High global demand for cyber fraud operations.
  
• Easy movement of victims via Thailand–Laos trafficking routes before being taken into Myanmar/Cambodia.
  

Implications & How to Counter It 

• Undermines cyber security, violates human rights, and affects India’s migrant safety.
  
• Requires bilateral agreements, cooperation with ASEAN, intelligence sharing, stronger checkpoints, awareness campaigns, and MEA-led rescue frameworks aligned with UN Trafficking Protocols.

Q. Which of the following are key features of cyber slavery?

1. Forced participation in digital financial scams
   
2. Confinement and confiscation of passports
   
3. Legal outsourcing work under government-regulated zones
   

Select the correct answer:
A. 1 and 2 only
B. 2 and 3 only
C. 1 and 3 only
D. 1, 2 and 3