Exposed: Thai call scammers in police uniforms
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Exposed: Thai call scammers in police uniforms

Police release photos to warn public to beware of video-call con artists

The police Central Investigation Bureau says these six conmen dressed in police uniforms target their victims via video chat. (Photo: CIB Facebook page)
The police Central Investigation Bureau says these six conmen dressed in police uniforms target their victims via video chat. (Photo: CIB Facebook page)

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) warns that call centre scammers wearing police uniforms are preying on victims via video chat, and is asking people with any information about them to come forward.

The CIB posted photos on its Facebook page of six scammers dressed in police uniforms sitting in a room that looks like a police office, with a Thai national flag in the background. 

These men contact potential victims via video calls on the Line app and tell them they are suspects in cases involving money laundering or illicit drugs, according to the CIB.

The bogus officers show fake documents to convince the victims to believe what they said. They tell them they will be interrogated or notified of the charges against them.

They then persuade their victims to transfer money to a bank account so that investigators can ascertain the source of the funds, and that way they can prove their innocence. After the money is sent, the con artists vanish, according to the CIB.

The bureau said that real police would never: 

  1. Contact people via Line or video to question them or notify them of charges;
  2. Ask people to transfer money or assets for examination to prove their innocence;
  3. Send official documents, including summonses or arrest warrants via Line.

The CIB has asked anyone with information about the bogus officers shown on the bureau’s Facebook page, or their activities, to contact police via the bureau’s own message inbox. Informants’ identities would be kept confidential, it said.

A scammer posing as a police officer to lure a potential victim. (Video: Facebook)

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