The Indian Embassy in Phnom Penh gave the Cambodian Police specific leads that they used to free 67 Indian citizens who were stuck in the Southeast Asian country because they were tricked into cybercrime by fake job offers they got from fake agents. A group of officials from the Indian Embassy is now handling the process of sending these 67 Indian citizens back home one by one.

They said in a news release on Wednesday that 15 of these Indian citizens left for India on September 30 and 24 left on October 1. The rest will get there in the next few days. It said that it was still keeping a close eye on things and was still determined to help Indian citizens who were caught up in online crimes. Also, Indian citizens were told to be very careful about applying for jobs in Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries through sketchy agents and social media ads.

Since January 2022, the Embassy of India in Phnom Penh has helped more than 1,000 Indian residents return home. In the first nine months of 2024, nearly 770 of them were sent back home. The Cambodian government helped make this happen by working with the Indian Embassy, the report said.