Online Scam Syndicate in Timor Leste Raided, Over 60 Indonesian Nationals Arrested
Jakarta (ANTARA) — Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu) has confirmed that 61 Indonesian nationals (WNI) were arrested on suspicion of involvement in an online scam syndicate in Timor-Leste, with handling currently under way to repatriate them.
According to Heni Hamidah, Director of Protection of Indonesian Nationals (PWNI) at the ministry, the dozens of nationals were arrested when local authorities carried out a raid on an online scam centre on 27 June.
“Based on our records, on 27 June, 67 Indonesian nationals were caught, with six of them escaping,” Heni said at a media briefing in Jakarta on Thursday.
All those arrested remain in detention in Timor-Leste and are undergoing an ongoing investigation.
Based on further inquiry, it was found that one of the 61 arrested nationals acted as their supervisor.
As for the fate of those who fled, their whereabouts remain unknown. Heni said they managed to escape whilst the online scam centre was being raided by the authorities.
“We are still monitoring whether the arrested nationals can soon be repatriated or not,” the director added.
Indonesians formerly in Cambodia
Furthermore, Heni explained that follow-up questioning of the nationals revealed that at least five of them had previously worked in Cambodia.
This aligns with the tendency of online scam operators to spread to several other Southeast Asian countries following the large-scale crackdown operations carried out by Cambodian authorities.
“Following the raids on online scam centres in Cambodia, Indonesians formerly in Cambodia dispersed to a number of countries such as Timor-Leste,” Heni said.
According to data from the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh, from January to June 2026, as many as 12,019 Indonesian nationals have reported and sought repatriation assistance to Indonesia. That figure has already surpassed twice the total number of cases throughout 2025, which stood at 5,088 nationals.
Despite the ongoing repatriation process, the embassy records that there are still Indonesian nationals travelling to Cambodia to work in online fraud networks.