9-11-2023 (BANGKOK) Immigration police have apprehended four individuals, including two Japanese and two Taiwanese nationals, believed to be the masterminds behind a call-centre gang operating in the outskirts of Bangkok. The gang is estimated to have defrauded over 17,000 victims in Japan, extracting a staggering sum of 9.5 billion baht within a span of less than a year.
Deputy National Police Chief, Pol General Surachate Hakparn, unveiled the arrests on Thursday, disclosing that investigators successfully traced the gang’s location to a residence situated in the Muang district of Samut Sakhon. Following a raid on the premises, the police apprehended two Japanese suspects identified as Daisuke (49) and Taro (41), alongside two Taiwanese individuals named Chien (50) and Ho (40).
During the operation, law enforcement officers seized a multitude of incriminating evidence from the house, including 11 mobile phones, two laptop computers, five credit cards, and various documents containing sensitive information belonging to the victims.
Authorities suspect that the four detained individuals were merely employees operating under the guidance of the gang’s ringleader, a Taiwanese national.
According to Surachate, the modus operandi of the gang involved contacting unsuspecting Japanese victims while posing as law enforcement officers. Under the guise of protecting their targets, the fraudsters would claim that the victims’ bank accounts had been compromised and coax them into transferring funds to an allegedly “secure” account. Remarkably, the call-centre syndicate managed to ensnare more than 17,000 individuals in Japan, siphoning off an astronomical 9.5 billion baht from their accounts within a span of fewer than 12 months.
The suspects have purportedly confessed to receiving a monthly salary of 200,000 yen (equivalent to approximately 47,000 baht), in addition to a 10% cut of the illicit gains obtained from their victims.
Surachate affirmed that the police would share the gathered evidence with the Japanese and Taiwanese embassies to facilitate a wider investigation in their respective countries, with the aim of identifying potential accomplices linked to the criminal network.
