New Delhi: In the summer of 2014, a 22-year-old man from Rajasthan stumbled upon a post on Facebook promising a better life in a different country. Intrigued, the man clicked on the post and eventually began a conversation with a supposed agent on Messenger. The “agent”, based in Delhi, told him all about the “American dream” and the ways to achieve it.
However, to reach the United States, he was told, one would have to start with the first step on the ladder—working in another country, Thailand, with a work visa.
But, he was not quite prepared for what happened next. He was deported from Thailand for staying there without a valid visa.
Once back in India, he began using the trick to scam others with fake visas. He armed himself with the knowledge of the safest donkey routes to the most attractive destinations and went on to supply several aspirants with fake visas.
In 2021, he was arrested by the Delhi Police for his alleged involvement in a fake visa racket. He spent six months in prison before being granted bail.
The man, now 32, owes more than Rs 10 lakh to his victims and is currently facing a debt of Rs 4 lakh after suffering losses in the stock market.
Visa rackets are frequently on the radar of the police and other agencies. While some victims of the scams are detained at the airport after their visas fail verification, others approach the police themselves on the suspicion that they possess a fake visa or because they are ghosted by their supposed ‘agents’.
Earlier this month, Delhi Police busted a “visa factory” that had made over 1,800 fake visas in Tilak Nagar, selling them at a minimum price of Rs 2 lakh each. The arrested gang, comprising at least six people, had been making 30 counterfeit visas each month. The accused, according to the police, had made over Rs 100 crore over the last five years.
In July, Delhi Police’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) wing said that they had arrested 108 fake visa agents this year alone.
A senior Delhi Police officer told ThePrint, “Fake visa rackets come to light mostly after a person is detained at the airport or someone files a complaint after receiving a counterfeit visa. In some cases, not all people who have been cheated want to file a complaint or be a part of the case. The accused first lure people through posts on social media—Facebook, Telegram, Instagram—and then move to WhatsApp.”
Sources said that sometimes, the persons involved in a racket do not know each other personally, which becomes a challenge during investigation.
“In most modules, one guy handles the printing, the other one makes the stickers. The agent who lures the potential targets might not be known to the others making the actual counterfeit visa. Moreover, they also procure bank accounts under false identities and the money is withdrawn instantly,” the officer explained.
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‘Broken dreams’ in Pattaya
Narrating the story of how he was duped, the 32-year-old victim-turned-fraudster said that he was told by his fake agent that in order to build his skill set and work experience, he had to first work in a South Asian country.
“He said that Thailand was my best option and that he would get me to work in a restaurant there, where I would learn the business and get a work visa easily. He charged Rs 1.5 lakh, apart from the tickets, for all of this,” the man recounted.
For eight months, he did odd jobs in restaurants in Thailand’s Pattaya and exerted himself from morning to night, with no work visa in sight. His tourist visa had long expired.
“I had some 500 dollars that I had exchanged after borrowing money from some friends and relatives. I survived for eight months with that money. I cleaned tables and utensils in multiple restaurants and would sleep in the kitchens, but I didn’t give up. The agent had told me that I would need to live there for six months and work to get the work visa,” he said.
One day, the Thai authorities raided one of the restaurants where he worked and slept and he was deported. His family had to give away land that they had mortgaged to be able to send him the money for his ticket to India.
There were ten others with him—from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam. However, they left Thailand within three-four months as they could not survive.
“Over time, the agent also stopped responding to my calls and messages. By then, I had paid him the whole amount. Initially, he would keep asking me to be patient. It was after six months of toiling that I realised that I had been scammed,” he said.
“My dreams were broken, and now I had to repay a lot of people,” he said.
Once he returned from Thailand, he rented an apartment in Delhi’s Dwarka and got into the business himself.
How he entered the fake visa network
Till his arrest in 2021, the man had defrauded at least 30 people by providing them fake visas, sources in the Delhi Police said.
However, in the case against him with three others arrested besides him, only 12 victims have been identified. Each of them were promised a Dubai and Cyprus visa.
“He and the other accused took Rs 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh from each victim. Around 5 lakh were seized from them at the time of arrest and their bank accounts were frozen. They also had 6-7 fake passports on them,” the source said.
During his time in Thailand, the 32-year-old had met travel agents and others living there without a valid visa. “We would discuss ways to reach Western countries, donkey routes and how to cheat the visa process. Gradually, I was in a network of people in the business from India and Pakistan,” he said.
After he was deported back, he spoke to others like him in Delhi and started off by posing as a travel agent and consultant for Dubai on Facebook.
“They charged money for documentation, medical examination, etc. and then created a fake visa. After Dubai, they started making Cyprus visas. Some victims were detained at the airport and that’s how the lead blew off,” the police source said.
Explaining the gang’s modus operandi, the officer said, “They start by talking on Facebook Messenger and then move to WhatsApp, offering lucrative deals. People, especially the youth, want to go abroad for a better life. The demand is never dead and that’s what they feed on to cheat people. They even created a fake website for Cyprus visas.”
The case against the 32-year-old man is now being heard in the Delhi High Court. “I want the case to end in settlement. I don’t want to land in jail again,” he said.
One of the man’s cousins was held hostage for a month and a half in Indonesia. He, too, had been scammed by an agent, who had told him that he would be sent to Australia, but instead, he ended up in Indonesia.
“A man from one of the nearby villages had told a group of boys, including my cousin, that he was in touch with an agent in Delhi, who would arrange for travel and work in Australia. However, when they reached Indonesia, they were locked up in a room and asked to pay more money. Their passports were snatched and the family had to pay them off to get the passports. There were six others with him, including three from Punjab,” the man said.
The family did not approach the police, he said, and the man, who had first informed the cousin about the said agent, paid them back Rs 10 lakh, half the money that was taken with the promise of sending him to Australia.
“In our villages, we are told the tales of success of people who go abroad. The pictures are sparkly and everyone wants to live the dream life. The demand is too high and the people in the network know it very well,” the 32-year-old said.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)