Eight Taiwanese nationals operating a call centre scam luring their compatriots to transfer money to them were arrested in Bang Na area, Bangkok, on Tuesday.
Immigration police raided a two-storey house at a housing estate on Soi Napalai, Bang Na, and arrested Chou Chun-Chuen, 31, the team leader, and seven accomplices, Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Natthorn Phohsunthon told a media briefing.
They also seized several computers, mobile phones and a list of thousands of Taiwanese victims.
The suspects are reported to be members of a transnational gang that targets elderly people, especially retired civil servants, in Taiwan.
A gang member would contact an intended victim and tell them their bank account had been hacked and details used by people involved in money-laundering and illicit drugs. The call would then be transferred to an accomplice who would pretend to be the senior state official handling the case, Pol Lt Gen Natthorn said.
People who took the bait were then deceived into transferring money to bank accounts held by gang members. Many Taiwanese people had fallen for the story, he said.
The suspects had entered Thailand in January this year, intending to use it as their new base to deceive their victims in Taiwan. The gang had relocated from Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands of the western Pacific Ocean.
They rented the house in Bang Na for 40,000 baht a month from the owner. Taiwan had alerted Thai authorities to their activities and an investigation led to the arrest of the eight suspects.
The suspects revealed the identity of the head of the operation in Taiwan, Pol Lt Gen Natthorn said.
The Immigration Bureau has cancelled their visas and they will be deported to Taiwan.