Sri Lanka arrests 231 foreigners in latest crackdown on cyberscams

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka police have arrested 231 foreign nationals, mostly Chinese and Vietnamese, following raids on suspected cyber scam centres in the capital since the weekend, officials said Thursday.

Crime groups internationally have carried out online cons, defrauding victims of tens of billions of dollars annually, often through cryptocurrency scams and phony romantic relationships.

In Sri Lanka, authorities cracked down on two suspected cyber scam centres on Sunday, arresting a total of 157 people.

An additional 74 people were arrested on Wednesday at a third location.

“They had entered the country on tourist visas and were illegally employed, while some had overstayed their visas,” police spokesman Frederick Wootler said.

A Colombo magistrate ordered a forensic examination of computers and mobile phones seized from the alleged scam centre in Colombo’s Kollupitiya area on Wednesday.

Computer and communications equipment found with the suspects arrested on Sunday had already been sent for analysis, officials said.

The arrests came a month after 152 foreign nationals, mostly Chinese, were detained for allegedly running a cyber scam operation out of a hotel in the island’s northwest.

Immigration authorities arrested 135 Chinese men and women in March for allegedly running a similar scam operation. They have since been deported.

Beijing’s embassy in Colombo said at the time that it was working closely with local authorities to prevent Chinese nationals from engaging in scam operations in Sri Lanka.

The embassy said Sri Lanka’s telecommunications infrastructure, favourable geographical location and relatively lenient visa policies had encouraged fraud gangs to move to the South Asian nation.

In 2024, Sri Lankan authorities detained 230 Chinese nationals and 200 Indians accused of operating cybercrime centres in various parts of the island.