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European Community defrauded of millions by LTTE "fronts" [10 February 2000] LTTE-financed business fronts are defrauding European governments of millions of rupees every year, according to evidence obtained after a Sri Lankan engineer was arrested this week in connection with a million-dollar International Direct Dialing (IDD) fraud. The investigations into the engineer's involvement with the LTTE in the recently unearthed French telecom scam have confirmed that the LTTE's fraudulent operations are conducted in almost every European capital. Countries of the European Community have been plagued by similar such fraud since the late eighties. In the latest racket, international phone calls from France to Colombo were being sold at one third the official price of French Francs (FF) 25 per minute. A 15 minute call to Sri Lanka was sold at FF100, instead of at the official price of FF375. Such scams hacks away the valuable revenue of the European governments, sources revealed. The modus operandi of these groups is to advertise the cut-rate phone calls by word of mouth. The canvassers then collect telephone numbers in Sri Lanka, and contact is made directly by those operating the fraud. The call, once connected to the European caller, is cut at the end of 15 minutes. The operator cannot be traced by either party. Advanced settlements collected
by the canvasser are then used for the purpose of more lucrative ventures like heroin
smuggling, where the funds are utilized to buy arms for the LTTE. According to French police sources, several such 'communication centers' are being operated in European capitals by expatriate Sri Lankans. The sources of their funding are
a closed guarded secret.
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