Cambodia cyber fraud: Home Secretary Bhalla holds meeting to identify and plug loopholes
Cambodia cyber fraud: Home Secretary Bhalla holds meeting to identify and plug loopholes
WITH FRAUDSTERS in Cambodia accessing thousands of activated Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts to defraud people here, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla held a meeting earlier this month with the Telecom Ministry, Reserve Bank of India and CBI, asking them to identify and close loopholes in banking and telecom sectors that enable such scams.
As first reported by The Indian Express on March 28, over 5,000 Indians are suspected of being stuck in Cambodia and forced to carry out the cyber frauds. According to government estimates, people in India have been duped of at least Rs 500 crore in the past six months.
Even as the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs plan ways to rescue the trapped Indians in Cambodia, the latter is learned to have also initiated action to plug loopholes in the banking and telecom sectors that are being exploited to perpetrate the scams.
The meeting chaired by Bhalla was attended by officials from the Telecom Ministry, MeiTY, RBI, NIA, CBI and security experts.
“How thousands of activated SIM cards are being sent and used in Cambodia, how they are utilising Indian bank accounts to receive money, and whether Indian agencies should consider the individuals involved as accused or victims – these were the key points of the meeting. Bhalla asked all agencies to resolve the issue by identifying specific loopholes,” a source said.
Initially, the Union Home Secretary discussed how these people were procuring thousands of activated SIM cards in bulk from different parts of India and using them in Cambodia.
“Bhalla is learned to have asked the DoT to find and fix the loopholes and, after discussing with telecom companies, to issue some directions. Similarly, he asked the immigration department to be more vigilant and coordinate with central agencies after catching individuals involved. It was observed that whenever people were arrested with activated SIM cards, they simply informed local police, who completed their investigation in a routine manner, without probing the larger conspiracy,” a source said.
Bhalla also discussed the issue raised by all the probe agencies about how to consider these individuals: as accused or victims. “As of now, it has been decided to take action against the agents who are sending these people to Cambodia. All state police forces should coordinate and share their information with each other. They should be aware of people in their area and start organising awareness programmes,” a source said.
Central agencies have observed that these individuals are using Indian bank accounts to receive money. “Bhalla has also asked the RBI to meet with all the banks and raise this issue with them. If necessary, they should also implement new guidelines,” the source added.
Recently, an FIR was registered by Delhi Police in connection with the Cambodia fraud and during probe, they traced the house of a woman in Madurai. But when a Delhi Police team visited her house, they found that her father had passed away and the woman was likely to visit her hometown. The police immediately opened a look-out circular against her and arrested her a few days ago when she came from Cambodia.
“She went to Cambodia last year on the pretext of a job, but was forced to do cyber-slavery. She was earning $700-800 every month,” the source said. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal last month had said that the Indian embassy in Cambodia has been promptly responding to complaints from nationals who were lured with job opportunities, but were forced to undertake illegal cyber work.
“We have seen media reports on Indian nationals stuck in Cambodia. Our embassy in Cambodia has been promptly responding to complaints from Indian nationals who were lured with employment opportunities to that country but were forced to undertake illegal cyber work. Collaborating closely with Cambodian authorities, it has rescued and repatriated about 250 Indians, of which 75 have been rescued in the last three months,” Jaiswal had said.
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