Cambodia crackdown exposes ‘digital arrest’ scam centre targeting Indians | India News
In Cambodia, a nationwide crackdown has resulted in the closure of around 200 scam centers, Reuters reported on Wednesday, quoting Chhay Sinarith, chief minister and chairman of the National Commission for Combating Online Scams.
Interestingly, one of the centers featured pictures of Mahatma Gandhi and BR Ambedkar, boards bearing the emblem of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and posters of the Greater Mumbai Police, all of which have been used to defraud Indians through ‘digital arrest’ scams.
Earlier this week, the Cambodian government showed media one of these abandoned centers in Kampot province, near the Vietnamese border. According to the Reuters report, the center, known as My Casino, had large workspaces lined with rows of computer terminals, with desks covered in documents detailing the methods used to defraud Thai victims. It also housed dedicated call boxes and even a fake Indian police station used in the fraudulent operations, the report added.
Cambodian authorities said no arrests had been made at the complex since the workers fled after the arrest of their alleged boss, Ly Kuong. The report also cites police as saying they lack the personnel to arrest those who leave.
“We only have about 1,000 police officers in the whole province and about 300 military police officers. Even with the two forces combined, we still can’t stop them because there were about 6,000 to 7,000 of them when they left this place,” said Kampot provincial police chief Mao Chanmothurith.
Why is this important to India’s fight against digital arrest scams?
The crackdown on the union comes at a time when India is grappling with growing cyber fraud, with so-called “digital arrests,” particularly targeting the elderly, being one type. According to a report by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), a division of the Union Home Ministry, resident Indians have lost over ₹52,976 crore to various cases of fraud and cheating in the last six years.
The Supreme Court of India has gone to the extent of asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the investigation into digital arrest scams, terming it a matter requiring “immediate attention”. This has given the CBI a free hand to examine the role of bankers under the Prevention of Corruption Act, wherever fraudulent accounts – also known as mule accounts, through which money moves quickly – have been used to facilitate digital arrest scams. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also been asked to explore whether artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) systems can be used to detect suspicious accounts and automatically freeze proceeds of crime.
Most digital scams are run by sophisticated transnational networks that straddle an entire ecosystem, from callers to corrupt bankers to mule accounts. For example, Delhi Police last month busted a Taiwan-linked international cybercrime syndicate that allegedly defrauded around ₹100 million from people across India by posing as anti-terrorism and law enforcement officers and placing them under “digital arrest”.
Authorities said several of the defendants had previously been employed in scam hubs in Cambodia and were allegedly recruited and financed by a manager based in Pakistan. In Nepal, a lawyer is suspected of supervising operations remotely, they added, quoted by PTI.
Similarly, Delhi Police recently arrested seven people for allegedly defrauding an elderly couple of ₹14.85 crore, according to a report by The Indian Express. Authorities said the scam was carried out through a complex “digital bust” involving nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from three states, an international cybercrime syndicate, mule accounts and months of planning. The international syndicate is believed to include fraudsters based in Cambodia and Nepal. In fact, Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar are increasingly becoming the epicenter of global digital scams, including digital arrests.
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