Cambodia scam farm-linked fraudster, on the run for 2 years, arrested at Chennai airport

CHENNAI: After being on the run for more than two years, a man who manages a restaurant in Cambodia and wanted in a cyberfraud case in Chennai was arrested at the Chennai airport on Tuesday.

The case dates back to February 2024 when Ezhilvani (59) of Kolathur received a phone call. The caller, identifying himself as Arvind Kumar from Delhi Customs, claimed that the officials intercepted a parcel in her name to Kuala Lumpur, which contained 16 passports, 58 ATM cards, and 140 grams of MDMA.

When Ezhilvani denied sending the package, the call was transferred to someone posing as Dinesh Kumar, a constable with the Delhi Police. The fraudsters threatened her with arrest in a money laundering case. To "verify" her innocence, they asked her to transfer money, promising to return it after verification.

Believing them, Ezhilvani transferred about Rs 2.96 lakh to a bank account. Later, after realising that she was scammed, she filed a police complaint.
West Zone Cyber Crime Police registered a case and traced the account belonging to a woman, Prema, who was working in a scam compound in Cambodia. On her return to India, she was arrested in March 2024 and another accused, Bala alias Balakrishnan of Madurai, who had sent Prema to Cambodia, was arrested later. Both are currently out on bail.

Investigation revealed that the mastermind, Ilavarasan (33) of Karur, was working as a manager at "Amma Restaurant" in Cambodia and was recruiting people for Chinese-run scamming companies and collecting bank account details. A Look-Out Circular was issued against him.

When Ilavarasan returned to Chennai on Tuesday, the Immigration officials detained him at the airport and handed him over to police. He was arrested and items, including a foreign employment permit card, passport, Cambodian currency, and mobile phone, were seized. The police said he faces multiple cyber slavery and cheating cases across Tamil Nadu.

He was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.