Scam gang paid 900,000 baht a month for Bangkok mansion to target victims in Japan
Thai immigration police have arrested 15 people at a mansion in Bangkok that a call-centre gang rented for 900,000 baht a month and used to defraud people in Japan by posing as Japanese police officers.
Officers raided the house on Soi Ekachai 112 in Bang Bon district on the evening of 16 September after a member of the public reported large numbers of foreigners coming and going, said Pol Maj Gen Phanthana Nutchanat, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau. Police obtained a court warrant before entering.
A Chinese man had rented the property, valued at more than 200m baht, through a Thai nominee for more than a year, he said. Of the 15 arrested, one is Thai and the others are from Japan, China, Taiwan and Myanmar. All worked as callers. The suspected ringleader is believed to be still in Thailand, and police are watching border crossings.
The gang called Japanese numbers at random and told whoever answered that a parcel containing illegal goods had been found in their name, Phanthana said. Those who believed it were transferred to a second line, where another gang member posing as a Japanese police officer claimed to have found suspicious transactions linked to the victim and persuaded them to transfer money “for checking”.
The second floor of the mansion was divided into rooms for each stage. One held desks with Japanese-language scripts for the first call. Another, used for the police impersonation, contained a rack of uniforms bearing the badges of various Japanese police forces and fake police identity cards, which the callers wore and displayed during video calls to convince victims.
Officers also seized computers, mobile phones, poker chips, a poker table and a quantity of crystal methamphetamine.
Police did not say how many people had been defrauded or how much money the gang had taken. The 15 are being held on charges including working without a permit and involvement in transnational fraud, pending further investigation.
The case follows a pattern seen in several recent raids, in which gangs targeting victims abroad operate from rented houses inside Thailand. The method is the same one used against Thais: an unsolicited call about an illegal parcel, a transfer to a fake police officer, and a demand to move money so it can be “checked”. No police force or courier company contacts people this way, and Thai authorities advise anyone who receives such a call to hang up and verify with the agency concerned through its published number.
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source: ดาวแปดแฉก
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