Quick-thinking Thai teen outsmarts call centre scammer in Chai Nat
A call centre gang tried to scam an 18 year old student in Chai Nat out of 50,000 baht yesterday, January 12, but quick thinking and help from his parents and police turned the tables just in time.
The student, nicknamed Ikkyu, received a morning call from someone claiming to be a mobile network manager, who accused him of involvement in an 8 million baht money laundering case. To appear credible, the scammer sent photos claiming to show official documents and police officers.
From 9am to 2pm, Ikkyu remained on the phone with the scammer, who insisted that he needed to clear his name by transferring nearly 50,000 baht to a specified account for verification. Consequently, he asked a neighbour for a lift to the bank, but on the way grew suspicious and sent the money to his mother instead.
While pretending to follow the scammer’s instructions, he quietly messaged his father for help.
His father contacted officers from Mueang Chai Nat Police Station, who intercepted Ikkyu at the bank before any transaction could be completed. Police then brought him to the station and instructed him to stay on the phone with the scammer to try to extract more information.
At the police station, the scammer continued pretending to be an official and asked Ikkyu to turn on his camera and pan around his surroundings to confirm he was at home. Ikkyu instead took the call into the bathroom, pretended to be distressed, and managed to convince the scammer to share their bank account number.
Once he received the account number, Ikkyu ended the call and immediately gave the information to the police. His mother, who had just arrived home from another province, was relieved to find her son safe.
She later explained that Ikkyu had submitted personal documents for university applications recently and suspected his information may have been leaked then. Earlier that day, she asked him to send over the scammer’s documents for her to review.
Realising it was a scam, she added the scammer on LINE to confront them, but the caller responded aggressively and ended the chat. Alarmed, she immediately left another province to return home to her son.
Ikkyu told police that he never fully believed the scammer but decided to play along to gather as much information as possible to help police. By pretending to be cooperative, he successfully delayed the scam and secured the bank details needed for investigation.
Police are now examining the account number provided and will pursue legal action against those involved, reported CH7 News.
In a separate case, police arrested three call centre scammers at a luxury hotel in the Chatuchak district of Bangkok and seized 1,000 methamphetamine tablets.
