6 Chinese men arrested for 10 million baht fake gold scam in Thailand
Police arrested six Chinese men for selling fake gold to rich Thai people resulting in a profit of more than 10 million baht. The suspects were reported to be former members of a scam call centre gang based in Indonesia. The gang confessed that their criminal act was inspired by a television series about scammers.
One victim, a Chinese man with Thai citizenship, reported to the police that he had been approached by a Chinese gang who offered to sell him gold. According to their story, the gang discovered the gold at a historical site located in the central province of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. The victim, convinced by their tale, paid 500,000 baht for the gold, only to discover later that it was fake gold.
After conducting an investigation, the authorities were able to locate and apprehend two members of the gang at the Hua Lamphong Railway Station in Bangkok yesterday. This eventually led to the capture of the remaining four gang members at a luxurious hotel in the Ratchada area of Bangkok.
The suspects were identified as 44 year old Zhong Xiaochong, 45 year old Li Xiaoyuan, 54 year old Zheng Nanjing, 51 year old Yang Suiyuan, 48 year old Zhu Zhihua, and 49 year old Guo Xianyu.
Officers confiscated 179 pieces of fake gold, 10 fake gold statutes, 8 gold sheets, 24 ATM cards, 12 mobile phones, and a piercing saw.
According to police, the gang gathered the names of wealthy Thai-Chinese citizens and used their scam call centre skills to contact each person to offer them gold. If a victim expressed interest, they would set up a meeting to prove that the gold was real.
During the meeting, the Chinese gang would cut a piece of the gold bar and give it to the victim to check if it was real or not. The piece given to the victim would always be real gold, as the gang managed to mix real gold inside the fake pieces.
The suspects disclosed that their hometown was in Jiangxi province in China, and all of the fake gold was imported from China. They were in a scam call centre gang in Indonesia before moving to Thailand and were inspired by a series about scammers.
Teeradate Thammasutee, the Commander of the Investigation Department of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, declared that the gang was a serious and proficient social menace and that there were still more than six members of the group at large. The authorities will carry out further investigations to ensure that the entire network is brought to justice.
Teeradate also issued a warning to the Thai-Chinese community to remain vigilant against the fake gold scam and urged gold shops to report to the police if any customers asked them to authenticate a small piece of gold as they could be victims of the gang’s scheme.
The Chinese suspects have been charged with violating Section 334 of the Criminal Law, which relates to the fraudulent taking of another person’s property. The punishment for this offence is a prison term of up to three years and a fine of up to 60,000 baht.
Additionally, they have been charged with violating Section 210 of the Criminal Law, which states that any group of five or more individuals who conspire to commit a crime shall be punished with a prison sentence of up to five years, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both.
