Four more Thai citizens have been arrested in Cambodia over their links to a call centre scam network which drove a man to kill his wife and two children in Samut Prakan last month.
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn said yesterday that a joint operation carried out by Cambodian and Thai authorities led to the arrest of Supol Wongwian, 21, Nisarat Sukasem, 22, Kanokporn Kraisuk, 19 and Kornkanok Singthit, 19, in Poipet.
Mr Supol worked as the coordinator for the network, while the three women nabbed alongside him called the victims, said Pol Gen Surachate.
The suspects face charges of colluding to commit fraud, computer crimes and participating in a transnational crime syndicate. They will be deported to Thailand to face prosecution.
From the suspects, authorities seized several mobile phones, along with ATM cards, bank books and about 240,000 baht in cash.
Pol Gen Surachate said the four suspects were among the 30 members of a scam gang which drove a man to kill his wife and two children in Samut Prakan on Aug 28.
The man tried to take his own life, but ended up in hospital instead, where he is being treated for his injuries.
Officials said that the man was hundreds of thousands of baht in debt after guaranteeing a car purchase for another person.
His wife then tried to help by borrowing a large sum from a money lending app, which turned out to be an application developed by the scammers.
She was defrauded out of about 1.7 million baht, compounding their misery.
The huge loss prompted the husband to kill his family.
Pol Gen Surachate said that out of the 30 members of the scam network, 16 have been arrested, including the four arrested in Poipet.
The suspects included 16 owners of proxy bank accounts, four of whom made cash withdrawals, two who kept a list of the proxy accounts, six scammers and two supervisors from China, who are still at large.
Authorities are still hunting for the other suspects, Pol Gen Surachate said.