Chinese phone scam gangs using Thailand to hack into WeChat app

Police have raided a hotel in the Ratchada district of Bangkok after being tipped off that a group of young Chinese were spending all the time in their rooms. Hotel staff became suspicious after they were calling room service for all their meals, never venturing outside and refusing to allow the housekeeping staff in to clean the rooms.

The Economic Crime Suppression Division led the raid on Christmas Eve, December 24.

Three Chinese nationals aged between 23 and 25 were arrested. Officials also found 116 Chinese mobile phones, 119 sim cards packages, 90 USB charging cables and a laptop. According to investigators, the group was using Thailand as a base to hack into a popular Chinese social networking site.

They had bought a large number of local Thai sim cards and installed them into Android compatible phones manufactured in China that they’d brought with them into Thailand. They were then hacking the Chinese-based messaging and chat platform “We-chat” to create fake accounts that were unable to be verified and then sell on the black market.

According to The Nation, fake We-chat accounts are in high demand among online scammers and fraudsters in China, and the group was creating thousands of these fake accounts every day.

Police said the Chinese hacking gangs were using Thailand as a base to commit the crimes. They noted it was a growing trend and that fake accounts and Thai sim cards could be used for terrorism and other offences and tarnish the image of the country.

At this stage the Chinese hackers have been charged under the “alien workers working without permission”. Thai and Chinese authorities are co-ordinating to prosecute the members and probably deport them.

SOURCE: The Nation