Where Non-Returning Indian Travelers Go in Southeast Asia

This article is published in collaboration with Statista

by Katharina Buchholz

The Bureau of Immigration under the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has directed states and Union Territories to carry out investigations on individuals who have not returned from Southeast Asia amid allegations that some of these Indians have been trapped in cyber slavery schemes.

A report by the bureau reviewed by the Indian Express shows that most Indians who have not returned from Southeast Asia traveled on short-term visas to Thailand. Second on the list is Vietnam, followed by Cambodia. Just several hundred are missing in Myanmar. The Indian Express reports that cyber slavery victims are lured out of the country with the promise of data entry jobs, have their passports taken away and are intimidated and assaulted while being forced to work long hours attempting to scam other Indians back home. Scams allegedly involves crypto currency and intimidation.

While the bust of a cyber slavery operation in December in Odisha and a previous investigation of the Bureau of immigration in March had to do with Southern Indians who were lured to Cambodia, the new report shows that many Indians not having returned from visits to Southeast Asia since 2022 left via Delhi airport (42 percent). Most are missing from Punjab (3,667) and more than 2,000 are missing from Delhi itself. Other states with many individuals who have remained in Southeast Asian countries are Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu as well as Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Gujarat.

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