CHONBURI – Arthit Leser, 21, a call centre gang interpreter, was arrested on Monday night, after he fled to Bo Win sub-district, Si Racha district, Chonburi province. He had been involved in the case of “Yai 29 Yod,” who forced Thai women to be prostitutes in Poipet, Cambodia.
His arrest, which was carried out by Pol. Maj. Chada Sesawech and a team of investigators, followed an earlier arrest on January 13, 2024, of “Mai 29 Yod” or “Mr. Naphadon,” one of the suspects in a human trafficking ring.
“Mai 29 Yod” is a confidant of “Mr. Liang,” the Chinese call centre gang leader. He keeps looking for unemployed people to send out to work in call centre gangs. Some women are forced into prostitution if they are attractive.
One victim gave information to the police, stating that she had been forced to have sex more than 25 times before being allowed to return home. Her information has helped two female victims in Bangkok before being taken to Cambodia.
Arthit admitted that he worked as a interpreter for a call centre gang in a neighbouring country. He received a monthly salary of 35,000 baht in cash for working from Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and had Sundays off.
The gang’s modus operandi was to call Thai citizens and pretend to be police officers. There were three steps: first, they would pretend to be the police and call the victim to tell them that they had been accused of a crime.
Secondly, if the victim is convinced, they would be asked to speak to a fake police officer at the station and send a copy of their ID card for confirmation via a line account. The gang would then use the information to create fake documents to make the victim believe they have actually been charged with a crime.
Finally, the victim would be directed to a fake police officer with the rank of superintendent who would attempt to extort money from the victim to “solve” the case.
The highest amount of money the gang had ever extorted from a victim was 2 million baht. The call center gang used an application that made it impossible to identify the caller.
Arthit said he joined the call center gang through a job search page on Facebook called “Jobs in Poipet”. He applied for the job because he could speak Thai and Chinese. The owner of the page then sent him a plane ticket to travel from Chiang Rai to Bangkok. He was then picked up by a car and taken across a natural border crossing to work in the neighboring country.
