Taiwanese, Thai arrested for phone scamming

Taiwanese, Thai arrested for phone scamming

Call-centre scam gang suspect Chiang Chun-Hao, 25, a Taiwanese national, after his arrest in Songkhla's Hat Yai on Wednesday while withdrawing cash from an ATM. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan)
Call-centre scam gang suspect Chiang Chun-Hao, 25, a Taiwanese national, after his arrest in Songkhla's Hat Yai on Wednesday while withdrawing cash from an ATM. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan)

A Taiwanese man and a Thai man, a former prison inmate, wanted for alleged involvement in call-centre scams have been arrested separately in Songkhla and Samut Prakan provinces.

In Songkhla, Chiang Chun-Hao, 25, a Taiwanese national, was apprehended while he was withdrawing cash from an ATM in Hat Yai district on Wednesday.

Police seized about 20,000 baht cash and some Taiwanese dollars, two ATM cards, two mobile phones, a cap and a pair of sunglasses as evidence, police told a media briefing on Wednesday.

According to police, Mr Chiang told investigators he had entered Thailand on Jan 16 this year and was sent to Hat Yai district on Jan 20 by a call centre gang based in Bangkok, which gave him two ATM cards. He stayed at a rented apartment room and was tasked with withdrawing money.

He began withdrawing cash from ATMs on Tuesday. He made 10 withdrawals, 20,000 baht each time, or 200,000 baht in total. He withdrew another 20,000 baht from an ATM on Wednesday, when he was caught.

Mr Chiang said he was to receive 1.5% of the money withdrawn. He confessed to having been persuaded by a Taiwanese friend to work for the Bangkok gang. There were four other Taiwanese nationals working in the gang, according to the suspect.

Police said the gang comprised both Thai and Taiwanese nationals and had recently duped a victim into transferring 800,000 baht into bank accounts of gang members. 

The investigation was being extended to arrest the remaining gang members.

In Samut Prakan,  a member of another call-centre scam gang responsible for finding people to open bank accounts for the scammers has been arrested in Phra Samut Chedi district.

Samran Huncharoen, 37, wanted on a court warrant issued by Samut Prakan provincial court on Jan 29 this year, was arrested at a room in Phra Samut Chedi district on Feb 5, Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakphan, deputy chief of the Tourist Police Bureau, told a media briefing on Wednesday.

The arrest  followed a complaint by a woman, Paras Limvoraphan, that con men had stolen 649,000 baht from her bank account on Jan 21. She had been duped by two members of a gang, one pretending to be a post office official based in Prachuap Khiri Khan and the other man claiming to be a police officer.

The bogus postman had told her she had a parcel, but it was seized as it contained illicit drugs. The man then transferred the phone call to his accomplice, the bogus police officer. The second man fooled her into giving him her bank account details and a password that could be used for online money transfers.

Afterwards, she found out that her money had been withdrawn, so she went to the police.

The police investigation led to the arrest of Mr Samran.

According to the Tourist Police Bureau’s Facebook page, Mr Samran is a former prison inmate who met a member of a call-scam network while he was in jail. 

After being released he found himself unemployed. The call-scammer friend then offered him the job of paying Thai people to set up accounts for the gang to use. He paid them 4,000-5,000 baht for each account, according to the bureau.

Tourist Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakphan questions call-scam gang suspect Samran Huncharoen, 37, a former prison inmate, after he was caught in Samut Prakan's Phra Samut Chedi district.  (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)

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