Police have arrested a Chiang Rai man who was wanted in connection with a scam group that used a website to defraud victims of 8 million baht. He surrendered to police in Chon Buri province after pressure from family members, Thai media reports.
Mr. Phongsiri (surname withheld), 36, wanted under a Chiang Rai Criminal Court’s arrest warrant No. 4053/2566, dated November 13, 2566, on charges of “jointly defrauding the public, jointly committing fraud or deception by entering false information into the computer system, participating in a transnational crime organization, conspiring to launder money, and jointly laundering money.
The Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) police said they were notified about the website scam after over 1000 victims complained to the Central Investigation Bureau.
Pol. Col. Supoj Phumyaem, Superintendent of the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD), said that an investigation was conducted and found a fake online complaint website, imitating the website, impersonating the name and logo of the Central Investigation Bureau, as well as other affiliated agencies.
It was found that the group of scammers also used Google Ads for people searched for the word “report online.” The fake website created by the perpetrators would appear first, leading many people to believe it was a real website.
Scammers pretended to be police and lawyers
Pol. Lt. Col. Athip said that the scammers would pretend to be an admin and talk to ask for basic information. Then, the perpetrators would have the victim contact a person claiming to be a lawyer via the Line application.
They would provide advice and guidance and have the victim send evidence of the matter they wanted to report. Then, the fake lawyer would forward the matter to the IT department, who would claim to be a police officer and inform the victim that the money the victim was scammed from had been laundered on an online gambling platform abroad.
They then claimed that they could return the money to the victim by hacking the gambling website, tricking the victim into transferring money to them and then running off with all the money.
Pol. Lt. Col. Athip said that after learning about the incident, the Central Investigation Bureau rushed to search for clues to locate this group of scammers.
Police launched an operation to search 8 locations in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Sakhon, Chiang Rai and Surat Thani. Four suspects were arrested, and assets worth 50 million baht were seized.
However, even though all the perpetrators had been arrested, officers continued to investigate and expand the investigation.
Worked from Cambodia
Later, it was discovered that Mr. Phongsiri, opened the mule accounts and was the websites admin who from Cambodia, had returned to Thailand through a natural channel before hiding at a relative’s house in Chonburi Province.
During questioning, Mr. Phongsiri denied the charges, claiming that he did not intend to deceive the victims of money. But he admitted that he had previously sought work through social media in Poipet, Cambodia.
He told police investigators he received a message inviting him to work on Facebook, so he was interested. He chatted on line app and agreed to go to work. They person he chatted to made an appointment for someone to pick him up at the permanent border crossing at Ban Khlong Luek, Aranyaprathet District, Sa Kaeo Province.
He said that when he arrived, he was taken by a Cambodian man and forced to open a bank account to transfer money that he had obtained from deceiving victims to the scammers.
He said he was also forced to work as an admin of Facebook pages that invited people to invest in various businesses that fronts for deceiving people out of their money.
He received a monthly salary of 18,000 baht, but after working for only two months, the man sold him to another call center gang before being abandoned. Later, he became seriously ill and decided to return to Thailand before being arrested.
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Geoff Thomas is an award winning journalist known for his sharp insights and no-nonsense reporting style. Over the years he has worked for Reuters and the Canadian Press covering everything from political scandals to human interest stories. He brings a clear and direct approach to his work.
