 "Three-layered scam, fake ED officers, and mule accounts: Here's how Cambodia call centre extorted crores")
A cybercrime ring operating from Cambodia has been uncovered following the arrest of a 24-year-old Indian woman, Khushi Chaudhary, who was part of a sophisticated international fraud operation that led to a digital “arrest” and the loss of Rs 2.9 crore (approximately $347,000) from an 81-year-old woman in Gurgaon, police said Wednesday.
Chaudhary was detained at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on June 29 after a tip-off, becoming the 16th person arrested in connection with the scam.
Her interrogation has revealed the elaborate structure of a call centre in Phnom Penh designed to impersonate Indian law enforcement and government agencies to extort money from victims, Times of India reported.
A three-tier system of deception
The call centre where Chaudhary worked operated out of a commercial building known as “Mango Park” and was split into three distinct operational lines, investigators said.
“Line 1 is the entry-level job in the cybercon food chain — the one who makes the call,” a senior police officer explained. Chaudhary began as a Line 1 caller, contacting victims with fabricated stories about suspicious parcels or alleged links to terror funding.
In “Line 2”, located in a separate room styled like a typical Indian government office, scammers posed as Indian police officials during video calls. “Here, a scammer dressed in police uniform sits for video calls, with framed portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and Sardar Patel mounted on the wall behind,” the officer said.
“Line 3, a third room, hosts seasoned conmen. Posing as Enforcement Directorate or CBI officers, they know sections of laws such as UAPA, NDPS, FEMA, BNS and IPC with which they threaten their victims,” the officer added.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThese callers used legal jargon and fear tactics to coerce victims into transferring money to bank accounts controlled by the syndicate. Victims were instructed not to disconnect or contact anyone else under threat to their families — a method termed “digital arrest”.
From barista to cyber ‘merchant’
Chaudhary, formerly employed as a barista in Surat, was lured to Dubai in 2023 by a friend’s husband who promised better job prospects. After briefly working at a call centre in Ajman, she was introduced to a Pakistani recruiter who arranged her move to Cambodia in August 2024.
Her job evolved from Line 1 operator to “merchant” — someone who split the money extorted from victims into various “mule accounts” in India, before transferring the funds overseas and converting them into cryptocurrency within minutes.
“She was a cog in a massive machinery,” the police officer said. “These cybercrime operations have roots across borders and work with clockwork precision. The financial trail is long and circuitous and often ends in crypto wallets.”
Chaudhary worked under two Chinese nationals known by the aliases “Lion” and “Panda”. Her monthly salary was $700, with a bonus of $50 for each successful target. “Her work hours were 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. As Line 1 caller, she made 30–40 calls an hour. And on average, 3–4 victims fell for the con,” the officer said.
Bonuses and parties for top performers
Well-performing scamsters were rewarded with promotions and weekend parties at luxury villas. “People were lured with promises of a better life. The more victims you trap, the more you could go up the ranks. It meant getting closer to the bosses and getting a raise at every step,” said the officer.
In total, 15 other suspects, mainly Indian holders of mule bank accounts, have been arrested. They face charges under sections 318(4) (cheating), 336(3) (forgery), 348 (making or possession of any instrument for counterfeiting a property mark), and 340 (forged document) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), India’s new penal code.
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