Timor-Leste Police Arrest 314 People in Raids on Scam Call Centre Compounds
A country just 700 kilometres from Darwin has become the latest staging ground for international phone fraud, as police crack down on fortified compounds packed with laptops, SIM cards, and satellite internet equipment.
Key points
- Timor-Leste police arrested 314 people, mainly Chinese and Indonesian nationals, across four raids conducted over three weeks in June and July 2025.
- Officers seized thousands of SIM cards, multiple laptops, and several Starlink satellite internet units from three heavily fortified compounds in the capital, Dili.
- The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that scam centres across Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos alone generate more than $50 billion in annual profits.
- More than 50 of the workers arrested had no passport on them, suggesting their employers had taken the documents, a common tactic used to control workers in these operations.
Phone scam factories have spent years setting up in Cambodia and Myanmar. Now, pressure from those governments is pushing the same criminal networks into newer, less experienced countries. Timor-Leste, the small nation that shares a sea border with northern Australia, is the latest to find itself targeted.
Timor-Leste police raided three fortified compounds in the capital, Dili, over five days, arresting 253 workers. A separate raid in late June brought the total to 314 arrests. Workers appeared in court on Monday and Tuesday accused of money laundering, illegal online gaming, and criminal association.
How did these operations end up in such a small country?
Criminal networks deliberately pick places where the laws around online fraud are thin and local institutions are still developing. Michael Rose, an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide who has visited scam centres in Timor-Leste, told ABC News Australia that these groups seek out governments they expect to be easy to work around. What they found here, he said, was a government willing to push back hard.
The compounds were not obvious industrial units. Police say some were large residential homes rented out by local landlords who had no idea what was happening inside. One landlord told local media he believed his Chinese tenants were in Dili to help build a convention centre. He only learned the truth when police called him to the property.
Inside, officers found the classic toolkit of a modern phone fraud operation: thousands of SIM cards (small chips used to give phones a phone number, allowing callers to rotate through hundreds of different numbers), laptops, and multiple Starlink units. Starlink is a commercial satellite internet service that gives fast, reliable connectivity even in places with poor local networks. Timor-Leste has some of the slowest average internet speeds in the world, so satellite access was essential.
Most workers entered the country on tourist visas. Over 50 of those arrested had no passport, which strongly suggests employers had confiscated the documents, a control tactic widely documented in scam centre operations across Southeast Asia.
The suspects came from China, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Police have not confirmed whether Australian residents were targeted, though similar operations in Cambodia have used scripts where callers pretend to be police officers and demand payments from Australians.
Police say they have further targets lined up and more raids planned in the coming weeks.
What ordinary people should know: If you receive an unexpected call from someone claiming to be a police officer, a government official, or a bank fraud team asking you to transfer money or confirm personal details, hang up. Call the organisation back on a number you find yourself from an official website. Legitimate agencies do not demand instant payment over the phone.
