SAMUT PRAKAN — Crime Suppression Division officers in Thailand rescued a Chinese woman tricked by a call center gang to travel from Germany; her parents in China had also been threatened for ransom.
On September 27, Thai police conducted a raid to free a 42-year-old Chinese woman surnamed Song after receiving a request for help from the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, saying she had been kidnapped. Police found that the perpetrators were holding her captive in a dormitory at Soi King Kaew 40/1, Rachathewa Subdistrict, Bang Phli District, Samut Prakan Province.
Previously, the criminals had sent messages to Ms. Song’s mother via the WeChat application, claiming that her daughter was being held captive and forced to work in Thailand. They demanded a ransom of 2.5 million yuan, the equivalent of about 12.5 million baht, to secure her release.
The criminals sent a video clip of Ms. Song holding her passport and saying in Chinese: “I have come to work in Thailand. This video was not forced in any way.” This video caused her mother to fear for her daughter’s safety, so she contacted the embassy for help.
After receiving the report, the authorities began their investigation and found that Ms. Song had traveled from Germany and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand on August 15. The video footage shows that she traveled alone and took a cab immediately after arriving at the airport.
Ms. Song later rented a room in a dormitory in Soi King Kaew, Samut Prakan. The owner of the dormitory stated that Miss Song lived alone, rarely left her room and mostly kept to herself.
The police then launched an immediate investigation and found Miss Song in her room. At first she acted suspiciously, claiming that she had come to Thailand to wait for an assignment related to CCTV surveillance. She emphasized that she was safe and that she knew nothing about ransom demands.
The officers then presented her with evidence of the messages that had been sent to her parents threatening them with a ransom. At first, Ms. Song did not believe them. The authorities had to bring her father and mother to meet with her, which eventually convinced Ms. Song that the situation was real.
Ms. Song then testified that on April 11, 2024, while she was still working in Germany, a Chinese call center gang contacted her claiming to be from the Chinese police. They told her that she had opened a phone number in China that was used to scam people into taking extra jobs, which constituted human trafficking. She was told to report to the authorities and she would be prosecuted.
The criminals then persuaded her to transfer money to the call center’s account for verification, claiming that she would get the money back after verification. After she had transferred the money, they told her that she had transferred it to the wrong account and asked her to transfer more money or she would not get her money back. Shebelieved them and transferred more, totaling over 8 million baht to various accounts, both in China and Europe.
The criminals then tricked her into traveling to Thailand, claiming that she would receive legal assistance there. Once she arrived, they instructed her to install the Skype application and make a video call the whole time and locked her in her room while she waited for further contact. She was forbidden to contact anyone and was forced to record a video that read: “I came to work in Thailand and was not forced to record this video.”
While Ms. Song was in Thailand, she was forced by the criminals to check in daily to confirm her location. Should she disappear via Skype, they would track all her travel details. It later emerged that Miss Song had traveled to Thailand on August 15, 2024 and had stayed there for over 40 days, changing accommodation a total of eight times until the police finally intervened.
After her rescue, Ms. Song explained that she had not initially revealed the truth because the criminals had threatened in April that she would not get her money back and would be prosecuted if she informed anyone or did not comply with their demands. Fortunately, her family had not transferred any more money to the criminals.
Officials from the Crime Prevention Department said they would work with the Chinese authorities to track down and prosecute the criminals who had fled abroad.
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