The Tamil Nadu unit of the Ministry of E xternal Affairs, the Protection of Migra nts (PoE),
The Tamil Nadu unit of the Ministry of E xternal Affairs, the Protection of Migra ants (PoE), organized an awareness walk today (February 8) at 7.30 am at Elliot’s Beach, Chennai.
Frauds continue to occur claiming that there is a high-paying job opportunity a broad. Some illegal agents are involved in such frauds. The Central Governmen nt’s PoE is taking action against them. It is also continuing to conduct awareness campaigns so that people do not get che ated by fraudsters. As part of this, an aw areness walk was organized at Elliot’s B each, Chennai today.
Students, job seekers and the general pu blic participated in this.
Krishnamoorthy, Commissioner, Reside nt Tamil Department, said at the event, “The Ministry of External Affairs has ini tiated this program to ensure that those going abroad through registered agents should go only through registered agen ts. The Tamil Nadu government has also organized such awareness programs in c ollaboration with many departments. W e are conducting training and awareness programs in our office in Chennai and in seven districts where there are a lot of i migrants. In addition, we are also provid ing free services to resolve doubts from our office 24 hours a day.
We are continuously conducting such a wareness programs with coordinators t o help migrants in countries like Gulf an d Malaysia with their problems. After th e PoE, we are working with them to take action against unregistered agents. Ther e are 200 agents registered with the Mi nistry of External Affairs. Go abroad onl y through them”.
Rajkumar, IFS, Migrant Protection Offic er, Tamil Nadu “We have heard stories a bout people who are deceiving us by say ing that they are taking us abroad. But n ow they are going a step further and usi ng us as cyber slaves to scam people. No t only are the migrants being cheated, b ut they are also using them to cheat us a nd cause economic loss. They say that if you want to get out of this cyber slave, y ou will only be released if you pay a cert ain amount. The awareness program for this is ‘Pathu Bonga’. We are clarifying m any things in this program like whether we go abroad only through registered a gents or whether we go abroad through a valid visa without a tourist visa.”
Dr. Sandeep Mittal, IPS ADGP Cyber Cri me sai, “Many people from our country go abroad to work. Most of them do not go through a legitimate agency. They go abroad after getting a tourist visa. Ther e they are forced to work in scam cente rs. All the phone calls threatening peop le like digital arrest and stock market co me from scam centers. Many people wh o go abroad get trapped there and beco me cyber slaves. If someone tells you th at they are getting you a job abroad like this, you should be very careful. You sho uld go only through a registered travel agency. This walkathon program is bein g conducted to create awareness about this.”
Surender Bhagat, IFS. The External Affai rs Ministry’s Guardian General for Migr ants said,“We have organized the ‘Pathu Ponga’ program to create awareness am ong those going abroad about how to tr avel abroad safely and properly withou ut getting cheated, and what are the pro cedures for doing so. This campaign will be helpful to those in all corners of Tamil Nadu.”
