In a concerted operation, Central and Tamil Nadu security authorities foiled a gang of cybercriminals’ attempts to establish a base in Tamil Nadu.
Liang Rong Sheng and Chan Meng Hong, two Malaysian nationals of Chinese descent, were being held by the Bureau of Immigration as they were getting ready to board an international flight here on Monday night. Meanwhile, two cybercriminals, S. Gopalakrishnan and C. Anand, were taken into custody by the Crime Branch-CID of the Tamil Nadu Police in the city.
The media was informed on Thursday by T.S. Anbu, Inspector-General of Police, CB-CID, that the suspects had selected a few locations along Chennai’s IT Corridor to set up scamming centres. They had incriminating items removed from them, such as pre-activated SIM cards, a laptop, mobile phones, and SIM boxes that were used to send mass texts or make repeated calls. The first base for the organization was to be an apartment in Sholinganallur.
Liang Rong Sheng was employed in Laos by a Chinese gambling company, the investigation revealed. The company was charged with offering customer service and back-end support for an online gambling website. On July 27, this year, they arrived in India using tourist visas and spent two months there. Anand and Gopalakrishnan told authorities that they had communication with the two foreigners while working for the gaming company a few years prior.
The group had originally planned to establish a scam centre in Mumbai, but they decided on Chennai instead because the city was too costly. The Sholinganallur flat had SIM boxes installed, but there was a technical issue preventing them from sending bulk SMS. According to Mr. Anbu, they placed the plan on hold and decided to look for more gadgets and technical support later, he said.
Police sources claim that the Malaysian nationals were connected to con artists operating in Cambodia and Laos, among other Southeast Asian nations. When hundreds of SIM cards used for online gambling and fraud were cancelled by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), they planned to move to India.
Law enforcement agencies have increased efforts to stop more young people from falling for the agents offering lucrative jobs abroad, even as efforts were made to locate hundreds of youths thought to be trapped in Cambodia. They are allegedly forced to work illegally as cyber workers for scamming centres, where they are allegedly confined to heavily guarded compounds.
Youths sensitised
At least ten young people were alerted about the potential threat by authorities when they entered this international airport in recent days to board flights to various locations in Southeast Asia. “They understood the gravity of the issue and returned home. We rescued them from getting trapped in cyberscam factories. Efforts are being made to locate the agents who arranged the jobs and recover the money paid to them as commission,” a senior police official said.
Airport personnel from various agencies were stopping single travellers and even small groups heading to these nations and asking them why they were there. “Once it is established that their travel is for employment, we explain to them the sufferings of many youths who either escaped from the clutches of the gangsters in those countries or are still struggling there. While the Government of India is taking steps through diplomatic channels to rescue those still enduring cyber slavery, we are educating youths seeking jobs abroad on the risks of going through illegal agents,” the senior police official said.
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