A good chunk of low wage h1bs are students. They are desperate to get h1b within the 12-18 months they are allowed to remain in the country. So they will accept any kind of job they can get at very less pay. I know teams that exclusively higher these students instead of bringing someone from India. It's far easier to hire these students and then apply for their h1b than get h1b for someone in India that can easily take 1-2 years. These students are the primary source of all the h1b scams like the ones mentioned in this article. People in India rarely have access to these US scam companies. Also, Indian companies like Infosys hire a huge number of students. Now looks like they have cut down on that, so will see where all these students will end up.