DILI (TOP) - During the past few days, the Timor-Leste National Police (PNTL) team has arrested many foreign citizens and destroyed their scam call centers and online games in Dili.
As of Thursday morning, July 9, 2026, the joint team of the Secret Service of the PNTL, the National Strategic Intelligence Service (SNIE) and the Scientific Criminal Investigation Police (PCIC) secured 99 foreign citizens suspected of being involved in illegal online gambling activities.
The team managed to break this large network because it is suspected of illegal online gambling activities and Scam Call Center located in 20 de Setembru Sub-Village, Bebonuk of Dili Municipality.
During the operation, the team identified the large group using advanced technology to operate in the capital Dili. The team also seized evidence of many electronic items, including 88 computers, 13 laptops and nearly 100 mobile phones.
After the collapse, the team immediately identified 99 people to be submitted to the investigation process and then processed to the Public Prosecution. This operation shows the seriousness of the Government and the security forces of Timor-Leste to fight transnational crime that is trying to flourish in our country.
Authorities have not provided details on the identities of those arrested and have not confirmed official charges against the suspects, as the case remains under investigation. So far, the competent authority has not given an official statement on the full results of the operation.
On the same day, the joint team also arrested 29 Chinese citizens in Manleuana-Dili, because there is also a link to the case of illegal online gambling and scam call center.
Does Timor-Leste need scam call centers and online games to accelerate national development?
This is an important question to look at carefully, because the honest answer is that these activities do not play a positive role in Timor-Leste's national development — they actively work against it. But they intersect with development history in several concrete ways that are worth uncovering.
Scam call center and online game are not legitimate development paths
Unlike sectors such as agriculture, tourism, gas, blue economy), fraudulent call centers and illegal online gambling are not productive industries that build local capacity, transfer skills, or create sustainable employment for Timor-Leste citizens. The workforce at the scam call center and online game is mostly foreigners — Indonesians, Chinese, Malaysians, Singaporeans, Cambodians — brought in specifically to run fraud schemes targeting people overseas. Little or no value to the local economy; profits are designed to flow to transnational unions, not to the local economy in Timor-Leste.
Why does this call center and online game scam keep popping up?
Timor-Leste still has a vulnerability to regulatory capacity. The government is eager to attract capital quickly — which is partly why an online gambling license was announced in April 2025 with minimal due diligence (the operator doesn’t appear on any global corporate records).
Gaps in governance make it difficult to establish a functional land registry or strong financial oversight for legitimate diversification, allowing criminal networks to exploit "free trade zones" such as Oe-Cusse Ambeno.
Porous borders and a dollarized, cash-based economy. Such features that can facilitate legitimate trade also make it easy for criminal proceeds to slip in and out undetected.
Real damage to development
Reputational and diplomatic risks, just as Timor-Leste tries to establish credibility as a new ASEAN member and attract legitimate investors.
The UN report notes that a person who holds a position in Timor-Leste's government is allegedly linked to a hotel that has these operations — the kind of corruption and state capture that scares away the honest foreign direct investment that the country desperately needs.
The government’s own resolution cited risks to “security, social stability, economic integrity, and international reputation” as the reason for the closure. Diverting scarce law enforcement resources away from other priorities, in a country that already has police with scarce resources.
These scam call center and online game industries have no constructive role in national development — but the fact that they have taken root is a warning sign of institutional weaknesses that legitimate development strategies need to address first.
