The family of Thomas Gabriel Perera told the BBC he was the victim of a job scam

It was supposed to be a ticket to a better life—a high-paying job in the Middle East, a chance to escape financial struggles in Kerala. Instead, Thomas Gabriel Perera ended up dead, shot at the Israel-Jordan border, a victim not just of bullets but of a ruthless job scam that lured him into a deadly trap, reported BBC.
The promise of a fortune — the start of a nightmare
Perera, 47, and his brother-in-law Edison Charlas were hardworking auto-rickshaw drivers in Kerala when an agent approached them with an irresistible offer: blue-collar jobs in Jordan paying a whopping Rs 3.5 lakh per month. All they had to do was pay Rs 2.1 lakh upfront and fly to Amman on a tourist visa. He also spent an additional $600 after reaching Jordan on a tourist visa.
Desperate for a better life, the men took the risk. But once they landed in Jordan, reality hit them like a ton of bricks—the promised jobs didn’t exist.
Then came the next bait.
The agent, perhaps sensing the men’s growing panic, dangled another dream: Israel. “There’s work there, but you’ll have to cross the border illegally,” he allegedly told them, reported BBC. With no money left and no way to return home, Perera and Charlas made the fateful decision that would change their lives forever.
The deadly journey — a midnight run turned bloodbath
On February 10, under the cover of darkness, the duo and a group of others were packed into a car and driven for hours to Jordan’s border with Israel.
What happened next was straight out of a nightmare.
“We were made to walk for kilometers along a coastline,” Charlas recalled. “It was pitch dark. Suddenly, gunfire erupted.”
Chaos ensued. Perera, hit in the head, collapsed instantly—dead on the spot. Charlas, wounded and bleeding, blacked out before he even realized what had happened.
No warning, no mercy? The mystery of the border shooting
Jordanian security forces claim they fired after issuing warnings. Charlas, the sole survivor, tells a different story.
“There was no warning,” he insisted. “They just shot.”
Was this a case of mistaken identity? A crackdown on human trafficking? Or simply a brutal response to illegal crossings? The answers remain unclear.
Jail, deportation, and a body still stuck in Jordan
After waking up in a Jordanian hospital, Charlas’ ordeal was far from over. He was shuffled between government offices, thrown into prison for 18 days, and only managed to contact his wife through sheer luck.
On February 28, he was finally deported to India. But Perera’s body? Still in Jordan. His family is now in a desperate wait, hoping the Indian government can bring him home.
The bigger scam: A pattern of exploitation
Perera’s tragic fate is not an isolated incident. Across the world, Indian workers—often desperate for better wages—are falling victim to similar scams.