The authorities in Timor Leste are facing a growing wave of online investment and recruitment scams linked to well organised call centres.<\/p>\n
Nearly 600 people have been arrested during a police crackdown in Dili, but questions remain about who is behind the scam centre operations in the capital.<\/p>\n
Opposition MPs and leading civil society groups say the problem runs much deeper than the local criminal underworld, and they point to institutional weaknesses and transnational networks.<\/p>\n
N\u00e9lson Belo, Director of Executives at the government accountability NGO Fundasaun Mahein, says organised crime groups are already adapting.<\/p>\n
“What we know [is] up until now there has no good mechanism to do investigation, to arrest, to take to the custody and to deport,” he said.<\/p>\n