Six suspected members of a call centre scam gang have been arrested with cash and other assets worth about 30 million baht seized.
Pol Maj Gen Atip Pongsivapai, commander of the Technology Crime Suppression Division, said on Friday that police busted the hybrid scam gang known as "Lock Star" in raids on four locations in Bangkok, Chiang Rai, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani, resulting in the arrests of two Chinese nationals and four Thais.
The two Chinese nationals were identified as Gao Zhivei, 29, and Chen Jue, 28. The Thai suspects were identified only as Thanchote, 33, Chanatthiya, 33, Siva 33, and Cholada, 27.
They were charged with illegal assembly, colluding in participating in a transnational crime organisation, public fraud, putting false information into a computer system and money laundering.
The police received reports from victims who were tricked into investing in digital currency through a fake application called Tidex, which promised high returns. The scam involved convincing victims to install the app and transfer money, which was then updated to show corresponding digital currency amounts in the app, making it seem credible and encouraging further investment.
"The victims cannot withdraw the money since the scammers claim that there's a tax issue, leading the victims to add more money into the app," Pol Lt Gen Atip said.
The scammers then transferred those money to their private digital wallets to avoid investigation before selling the cryptocurrency and converting it into Thai baht.
The arrests led to the seizure of a luxury house worth over 12 million baht, two cars, two motorcycles, over 4 million baht in cash, gold necklaces, luxury watches, branded bags, computers, laptops, smartphones and various digital currencies valued at about 2 million baht.