Police launched multiple raids in the northern province of Chiang Mai, resulting in the largest seizure of call scam equipment in Thailand, linked to a Thai-Chinese gang.
Officers raided 11 rented houses in Muang, San Sai and San Kamphaeng districts on Tuesday and found 642 SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) boxes, 590,000 SIM cards, 72 computers, 1,455 mobile phones and 47 SIM card readers, Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), told a press conference on Wednesday.
"This is the biggest raid of call scam equipment in Thailand," the commissioner said.
During the raids, police arrested 15 suspects comprising of two Thais, five Chinese nationals and eight people from Myanmar.
Among those arrested was 30-year-old Thai woman Jirapan Prakobkit, whose Chinese husband, currently at large, is believed to lead the scam operation. The woman rented the houses where the criminal activities took place and was paying the associated utility bills.
"The SIM boxes were used to create fake social media accounts, which were sold to other call scam and online criminal gangs," said the CIB chief. "They had the devices that were used with mobile phones to avoid security algorithms of social media, which would consider the fake accounts as genuine ones."
He quoted Ms Jirapan as saying that her Chinese husband had bought the equipment, and other arrested suspects were hired to stay at the rented properties where the SIM boxes were located.
CIB chief Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, left, observes seized devices at the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok on Wednesday. (Police photo)