NAKHON SI THAMMARAT – On March 29, Thai officials reported the taking down of a huge Chinese call center gang in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, which had been illegally established to defraud Thais and Chinese citizens. Officers arrested 90 people and seized computers and other devices.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Thatchai Pitanilabutr, assistant police commander, stated at a press conference at Chawang Police Station in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province that since the investigation began at the end of 2023, this operation has been carried out in coordination with 100 officials, including cyber police, DSI officers, detective police, police region 8, immigration police, and NBTC officials. They have been dispatched to seek out four targets in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.
At the time, officials discovered a large network of Chinese people forming a call centre gang in Chawang District to defraud and steal property from fellow Chinese, Japanese, Russians, and Thais through a variety of scams, including inviting them to invest in digital currencies, online gambling, tricking people into buying products by creating pages, and using various tricks to lure victims to transfer money. The officials then conducted a thorough investigation and collected evidence.
Then, on March 28, 2024, officials obtained a search warrant from the Criminal Court and conducted a simultaneous search operation at four locations, discovering both Thai and Chinese citizens working there.
They also confiscated 228 computers, 1,037 mobile phones, 4 iPads, 21 internet routers, 2 CPUs, 2 USB sticks, 521 phone SIM cards, 2 credit cards, 80 bank accounts, one long gun, and tax-evaded cosmetics.
Police Lieutenant General Worawat Wattanakornbancha, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Police, stated that officers detained all 90 members of this call centre gang. During the investigation, Lin Shuozhao, a 30-year-old Chinese national, stated that he was simply an employee whose job was to wait. The big bosses at the command level are in China.
Many Chinese individuals that have joined this call center gang use passports to enter Thailand through Cambodia. Some travelled directly from China to Thailand disguised as tourists.
Furthermore, there are offers to come and work before joining forces to establish a group that defrauded victims for nearly a year. They planned and worked systematically. Thai employees will receive an average monthly salary of 20,000 baht each person, whereas Chinese personnel would earn an average of 40,000 baht per month.
Officials have accused these individuals of establishing a group to conceal the method of operation and purpose for illicit reasons, as well as conspiring with five or more people to commit an offence or commit theft.
The cyber police are now planning to expand on that by looking into the financial histories and other characteristics of each group of accused people involved in other crimes. Investigators from the Chawang Police Station held all suspects and transported them for prosecution.
