Police have warned about a new scam where call centre gangs trick students into sending fake abduction video clips of themselves, which are then used to get money from their parents.
Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang, special adviser to the Royal Thai Police (RTP), on Friday gave details about this new type of scam where call centre gangs target university students living alone in apartments.
A gang would make a phone call via voice over internet protocol (VoIP), mostly beginning with the numbers +697 and +698 and randomly call victims, Pol Lt Gen Sompong said.
They use the same technique of telling their victims that they were involved in an illegal activity. During the call, if they find the receiver is a university student, who lives alone and does not have money, the gang will suggest to the victim a way out, he said.
Pol Lt Gen Sompong said they told each victim to buy a new mobile phone SIM card and record a clip of the victim being tied by a rope or duct tape and send the clip to the gang.
The gang then contacts the victim's parents and sends them the video clip with a demand for money.
The parents cannot contact their child, so they transfer money to either a mule account or their child's account, which is later transferred to the scammer gang, he said.
Pol Lt Gen Sompong urged people to be more prudent and not fall for such scams.
He also suggested people download the "Who's Call" mobile application to help verify mobile phone numbers and inform the police at 191 or call centre of Police Cyber Task Force centre at 1441 or 081-866-3000 about suspected scam calls.