Cyber expert warns how AI is used to trap people, says criminals are targeting teenagers: ‘25,000 log gayab hue hain job ke naam par’
Cybercrime is evolving fast, with scammers using OTP fraud, fake calls, screen sharing, call merging, call forwarding and voicemail attacks to steal money or hijack devices. Amit Dubey, a cyber expert, while talking to Raj Shamani in the Raj Shamani Podcast, said that criminals have moved beyond simple theft — they now lure people with fake overseas job offers and, in some cases, make them disappear. Dubey said the scale of the crime is alarming. He recalled an operation about a year and a half ago in which the government rescued nearly 150 people trapped by fake job syndicates. Those victims were allegedly taken to Thailand and then smuggled into Laos, where they were held in inhumane conditions, starved, beaten and forced to work as cybercriminals. “I don’t think it was just 150 people. The actual number must be around 1.5 lakh,” he said, and later cited an official report that 20,000–25,000 Indians have gone missing “job ke naam par” (in the name of jobs). Explaining the modus operandi, Dubey said victims are first lured with promises of high-paying roles abroad. Recruiters contact candidates via Instagram or other social platforms and conduct interviews over Skype or similar apps. After the online “selection,” the fraudsters ask for money for paperwork or contracts. “Aapka agreement bann na hai uske liye paise bhej dijiye, contract bann na hai (They’d say, ‘We need to prepare your agreement, so please send money for that’),” he said. Eventually, the victims were asked to report for work at a designated location. Once they arrived, they were trafficked to Laos and confined in abandoned buildings located in areas beyond the jurisdiction of the two countries. There, they were tortured and coerced into working as cybercriminals. Dubey also warned about AI-fuelled deception. He described how readily available AI tools can create convincing fake identities: “Ek website pe jaana aap, thispersondoesnotexist.com, uss mei aapko ek AI generated face dikhega and jitni baar refresh karoge utni baar naya face dikhega. You can decide ki aapko bachche ka face chahiye ya ladki ka face chahiye, woh website 7-8 billion face generate kar chuki hai. Ab aap woh face lelo, and social media, Tinder profile, Bumble profile bana lo aur phir aap ek AI agent rakho peeche, jo intellectual hai, flirt kar sakta hai aur phir trap karo, kaun bachega? (Go to a website called thispersondoesnotexist.com, it shows an AI-generated face, and every time you refresh, you get a new one. You can even choose if you want a child’s face or a woman’s face. That website has already generated 7–8 billion faces. Now imagine using those faces to create fake profiles on social media, Tinder, or Bumble, and then putting an AI chatbot behind them, one that can talk, flirt, and manipulate. Who can escape that?)” He cautioned that criminals are now using such methods to target teenage users, deploying AI-generated faces and chatbots to build trust, groom victims and pull them into scams.
