PATNA, Feb. 12 -- Vaishali's Mohammed Arshad, 34, regrets not being able to attend the burial of his father-in-law Md Kamaal, 56, a small-time tobacco seller who died of a heart attack at his Howrah residence in Kolkata last May.

Trapped in Laos in 'cyber slavery', the new job con, an organised crime of scamming people through digital means, Arshad could not even participate in the 'Quran Khawani' - the reading of verses from the sacred Quran - on his father-in-law's 'Chaliswan', the 40th day of death, considered a significant period among Muslims when family and friends gather to pray for the deceased soul, marking the end of the formal mourning period.

"My Chinese employers at Rehani Technology in Laos around the 'Golden Triangle' had...