In a recent bust at Mumbai’s airport, police arrested Mitaliben Parmar, a 24-year-old woman from Navsari, Gujarat, for attempting to escort two other women to Laos, where they were to join a fraud operation involving a chatting scam. The arrest took place on Friday, just before the trio boarded a flight to Thailand, which was part of their route to Laos.
The two women being escorted, Richakumari Rathod (23) and Asfanali Malik (24), both from Surat, were allegedly promised lucrative jobs by Parmar, who had previously worked with a scam group operating in Laos. According to police sources, Parmar had already been involved in the scam earlier and was returning to India to recruit more women.
The scam involved offering women jobs in Laos where they would work for fraudsters running an online chatting scam. Parmar had reportedly promised each woman a monthly salary of Rs70,000 for the job, which lured the victims into agreeing to the journey.
The trio was stopped by immigration authorities at Mumbai’s international airport as they were set to board Indigo flight 6E-1051. The immigration officials became suspicious when the two women could not provide a satisfactory explanation for their trip. Further questioning revealed that Parmar had been approached by a person named Piyush in June, who had recruited her for the scam in Laos. Another agent, Shashank, offered her the job details upon arrival in Laos, further enticing her with promises of a steady salary and additional incentives for recruiting others.
Parmar had returned to India on June 10, after which she contacted Rathod and Malik, promising them the same lucrative opportunity. Rathod and Malik were both lured into the scam via social media platforms like Instagram and through personal communication with Parmar.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the two women had been promised employment in Laos, but upon arrival, they would likely have been forced to work in a scam operation that involved impersonating individuals for fraudulent purposes.
As the investigation unfolds, police are looking into the possibility that Parmar may have trafficked other individuals into similar schemes. Authorities are also probing whether this is part of a larger trafficking racket that lures victims under false pretenses of employment in foreign countries.
Parmar has been charged with human trafficking under the relevant sections of the BNS (Prevention of Trafficking in Persons) Act. The police are continuing their investigation to uncover the full scope of the network involved.