Police Media Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa said that these online financial scam farms operated via the internet by foreign nationals situated in different locations in the country termed as ‘Scamming Camps’ is a very new concept to Sri Lanka and are quite similar to those in Myanmar where Sri Lankan nationals are stranded after leaving the country for foreign Information Technology (IT) related jobs. Thalduwa said that this concept of scamming camps has been discovered only this year (2024) where suspects select separate locations that are mostly consisting of several comfortable rooms and a large spacious hall to conduct their activities. Those who are living in these scamming camps are not permitted to leave the premises which are quite similar to the situation that the Sri Lankans are faced with being stranded in cyber camps in Myanmar.
DIG Thalduwa also said that even though those who are employed in these scamming camps are not permitted to leave the premises, they are provided with their salaries with swimming pools for the leisure activities and a house for their food requirements.
The scammers rent out locations under the guise of operating an IT business company and make upfront rental payments for several months besides payment of key money, Thalduwa said.
Thalduwa said that in the beginning these fake companies might show as if they are operated by about four employees, however, later they increase the number of workers in one location up to around 50 persons and the number of workers in a location depends on the scope of their cyber network. The required equipment to carry out the cyber crimes such as laptops, desktops, mobiles and tablets are brought to each location. These cyber scammers operating in different parts of the country are not only targeting people in Sri Lanka but people living globally too, the Police Media Spokesman said.
Over 200 foreign nationals with a majority of Chinese citizens have been arrested recently on several instances with raids conducted by the Police and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on charges of committing online financial scams and cyber crimes where nearly 500 mobile phones and 300 computers have been seized.
The closest incident related to these scamming camps was when a group of foreigners who were suspiciously staying in a hotel on Iranawila Road in Chilaw were arrested on Tuesday (15) by the police based on information received by the officers of the Puttalam Division Crime Investigation Bureau. The arrested foreign nationals included four Malaysian males, three Ethiopian males and one female, a Kenyan female and a Chinese male on suspicion of committing money fraud on the internet and twenty computers, three routers and 282 mobile phones were taken into police custody, Police Media Spokesman said.
DIG Thalduwa said that criminal charges can be brought against those who provide locations to people who conduct financial fraud using the internet and that the Chinese Police are working closely with the Sri Lankan Police in conducting investigations on Chinese nationals involved in these online cyber crimes.