Sri Lankan police have arrested 37 Chinese nationals suspected of running a cyber fraud center in the capital Colombo, a spokesman said on Sunday, in the latest crackdown on foreign-directed online fraud.
The suspects, aged between 23 and 44 and including a woman, were arrested following a tip-off, the police spokesman said.
“They entered the country with tourist visas and were employed illegally, while two of them overstayed their visas,” he added.
A local police source said 35 tablet computers, 147 mobile phones and 100 SIM cards were seized at the suspected fraud center in the Colombo suburb of Talangama.
The arrests came a month after 152 foreign nationals, mostly Chinese, were arrested for allegedly running a cyber operation out of a hotel in the northwest of the island.
Immigration authorities arrested 135 Chinese men and women in March on suspicion of running a similar fraud operation. They have since been evicted.
Beijing’s embassy in Colombo said at the time that it was working closely with local authorities to prevent Chinese nationals from conducting fraud operations in Sri Lanka.
The embassy said Sri Lanka’s developed telecommunications infrastructure, favorable geographical location and relatively lenient visa policies encouraged fraud gangs to move to the South Asian country.
In 2024, Sri Lankan authorities arrested 230 Chinese nationals and 200 Indian nationals accused of operating cybercrime centers in various parts of the island.
