Mumbai: In a sensational twist to the cyber slavery racket, Salman Shaikh, the key accused arrested on September 17 by the Mumbai Police Cyber Cell, has admitted during interrogation that he himself was once a victim of cyber slavery. Shaikh revealed that he had gone to Laos in 2022 in search of a job but ended up trapped in the clutches of cyber syndicates. He returned to Mumbai in 2023 after striking a deal with the syndicate: in exchange for his freedom, he would lure people with promises of overseas jobs and send them to Laos, where they would be forced into cyber fraud operations.
Exploitation in Laos
According to South Cyber Cell’s Senior Officer, Shaikh was denied two to three months’ salary while working in Laos. To secure his release, he agreed to the syndicate’s condition of sending people from India as replacements. Over the span of a year, Shaikh managed to send at least four individuals to Laos, who were subsequently pushed into cyber slavery.
Commission and Syndicate Influence
Investigations have revealed that Shaikh collected ₹30,000 as commission from each of the four people he trafficked abroad. Police also discovered that Shaikh was heavily influenced by Jerry Philip Jacob, the mastermind of a similar job scam. Jacob was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch in 2024 for trafficking dozens of people to Laos under the pretext of lucrative job offers in Thailand.
Ongoing Investigation
The Cyber Cell is now probing whether Shaikh was operating independently or if he was still in direct contact with international cyber syndicates. Authorities fear that several more unsuspecting job-seekers may have already fallen prey to this racket.
