Police have arrested the alleged leader of a Chinese call centre scam gang and 10 other members wanted for duping people into investing in gold in a scheme they claimed was linked to the Crown Property Bureau.
The scammers peddled their "Royal Gold" investment scheme from the notorious Kings Romans casino in the Golden Triangle in Laos and tricked their victims out of about 500 million baht in total, according to the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).
Teng June, 32, a Chinese national and the alleged leader of the gang, was arrested while in Bangkok's Bang Khunthian district, Pol Maj Gen Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of the TCSD, said yesterday. Nine Thais and one stateless woman were also apprehended in Chiang Rai and Chanthaburi provinces in recent days, he added.
Seized from the alleged gang leader and his accomplices were three luxury cars, over 5 million baht in cash, 30 gold ornaments, luxury watches, brand-name bags, computers, mobile phones, SIM cards, bank account books, gold certificates and other items.
All the suspects were charged with conspiring in fraud, putting false information into a computer system and laundering money. They are being held in police custody pending legal action.
Earlier, the Crown Property Bureau filed a police complaint about a group of criminals that used its name to open a website under the name of "Royal Gold" to promote gold investment opportunities.
From January to May, hundreds of people fell victim to the scheme, causing about 500 million baht in damages, said Pol Maj Gen Athip.
TCSD investigators said they found that Mr Teng led the operation, which was headquartered in the compound of the Kings Romans casino in Laos' Bokeo province.
The Chinese national allegedly controlled operations and delegated tasks to other scammers.
Pol Col Siriwat Deephor, deputy TCSD commander, said the scammers created false Facebook accounts using beautiful women as their profile photos, apparently to garner the attention of netizens.
They approached potential targets and persuaded them to invest in gold via the Royal Gold website that the gang set up, featuring stock price graphs and trading volumes, he said.
The gang claimed the website invested in gold with links to the Crown Property Bureau in a bid to build credibility, he said.
During the initial investment stage, he said the gang provided investment returns of 10% to the victims.
When the victims wanted to withdraw some money, he said the gang duped them into transferring more money for "taxes and other services" before disappearing.
Pol Col Nethi Wongkularp, superintendent of TSCD sub-division 2, who led the operation to arrest the suspects, said the gang used the money to buy cryptocurrency before transferring it to the digital wallet accounts of people they previously hired for money laundering.
"The investigation found that those who were hired to open bank accounts and digital wallet accounts mostly lived in Chiang Rai province," he said. "Each was hired for 3,000–4,000 baht."