Thai woman ‘clicks one link’ and loses 40 years of savings in terrifying tax scam
A 63 year old woman from Trang province in southern Thailand says she “clicked one link” on Tuesday morning and lost her life savings of 1.5 million baht in the blink of an eye. Nis went from having millions in her bank account – which she saved up by selling pork at a market for 40 years – to just 1661 baht in the bank.
Nis says she received a call from a scammer claiming to be someone from Thailand’s Revenue Department. The scammer told her she had outstanding tax to pay and sent her a link via Line. The scammer said the link would take her to the Revenue Department’s website, so she could check her outstanding balance for herself.
Upon clicking the link, Nis said her phone screen went blue and the Revenue Department logo popped up along with the message, “668325, in the process of checking first and surname, do not use the phone.”
She said her phone froze and there was nothing she could do. The next thing she knew, she saw the notifications from banking apps, saying she had successfully transferred 1,458,000 baht out of her SCB bank account and 10,000 baht out of her Krungthai bank account into a UOB bank account.
Nis, with the help of her 35 year old daughter Nida and 36 year old daughter-in-law Siriwan, contacted the bank and told them what happened. Next, the women filed a complaint and submitted evidence to Huai Yot Police Station and the Technology Crime Suppression Division.
Nis’ bank statements said that she had transferred the money to a UOB bank account under the name Supaporn Kulamat, which the bank has already frozen.
After three days, there is still no sign of Nis’s money, so authorities are expediting help for her and her family. Nis is beside herself, saying that her entire life’s savings was sucked out of her account in seconds. Nis currently has only 761 baht left in her SCB account and 900 baht left in her Krungthai account.
Nis’ daughter Nida said that someone called on Tuesday morning claiming to be from the Revenue Department. Nida said that she and her mother and in the process of submitting business tax, so they didn’t suspect anything untoward when they got a call from the Revenue Department.
Nida said that her mother is in complete shock and the family doesn’t have the money to pay for her mother’s heart disease treatment. Nida said that Nis needs to access medical treatment urgently.
Nida wants to warn the public about the scam…
“Normally, when we use a banking application, we have to enter the password every time. This time, the bank made a transfer with no password and no OTP code whatsoever. The money can be gone so easily. It makes you wonder, how safe is it to deposit money into the bank?”
“Right now, I feel like I’ve put too much trust into the bank. I’ll never deposit money into the bank again, I’m too scared now. We are in big trouble now. The money my mother saved up by selling pork at Huai Yord Fresh Market for 40 years is all gone. I want to warn everyone, criminals are taking new forms. Just click one link and you can lose everything, in a split second.”
SOURCE: สรยุทธ สุทัศนะจินดา
