Thai authorities have cracked down on a major criminal group running massive frauds through illegal call centres.
Thai authorities have cracked down on a significant Chinese criminal gang that was engaged in mass scams against Thai and Chinese citizens through illegal call centres in Nakhonsitthammarat province. Police arrested over 100 people and seized computers and other devices, Khaosod reported.
Since the investigation began, the operation has been coordinated with 100 officials, including cyber police, DSI officers, detective police, Region 8 police, immigration police and NBTC officers.
Assistant Police Chief Lieutenant General Thatchai Pithanilabutr said all involved officers were deployed to search four sites in Nakhonsitthammarat province where call centres and phone scammers were suspected to be located.
Officials spotted a large group of Chinese nationals in Chawang district allegedly setting up a call centre to defraud and steal money from Thais, Chinese, Japanese and Russians through various scams, including offering to invest in digital currencies, online games and so on.
The scammers tricked people into transferring money for non-existent goods. They created fake social media profiles and used various tricks to get fraud victims to transfer money.
Police conducted a thorough investigation and gathered evidence. After obtaining a search warrant for suspicious premises from the Criminal Court, police conducted simultaneous searches at four locations, finding both Thai and Chinese nationals working there.
The search confiscated 228 computers, 1,037 mobile phones and 4 iPad tablets. Police also found 21 routers, 2 USB memory sticks, 521 phone SIM cards, two credit cards, 80 bank accounts, one gun and counterfeit cosmetics during the search.
Officers detained all 90 members of the call centre gang. However, during the investigation, Lin Shuozhao, a 30-year-old Chinese national, said he worked as a simple employee whose job was not fraud. And the big bosses at the command level are in China,’ said Royal Thai Police Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Worawat Wattanakornbancha.
Many of the Chinese employees who joined the call centre gang used their passports to enter Thailand visa-free via Cambodia. Some travelled to Thailand directly from China, masquerading as tourists.
It was also revealed that many Chinese call centre staff had received lucrative offers to come and work in Thailand before being recruited into the fraud group, which systematically and systematically defrauded the victims for almost a year.
Thai staff received an average of 20,000 baht per month per person, while Chinese staff earned an average of 40,000 baht per month.
The investigation revealed that the gang was linked to the deputy mayor of Chandi Municipality, Ms Revadi Teppaiboon, who owned the premises used by the Chinese criminals to set up call centres and profited from the rental payments.
It was also found that the money to buy computers and phones for the Chinese call centre was transferred from Revadi’s spouse’s bank accounts. The official’s spouse also paid the salaries of Thai employees.
Four suspects are currently at large: Revadi, the official’s husband and daughter, and Dusadi Sangkaew, 44. Security forces have been ordered to step up monitoring and arrest suspects as they attempt to cross the border to bring them to justice.
The call centre employees arrested locally have been charged with forming a group to work for illegal purposes and conspiring with five or more people to commit a crime or theft.
Cyber police plan to expand the case by examining the financial history and other characteristics of each group of defendants involved in the offences. All detainees have been arrested and will appear in court.
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