Thai woman exposes call centre scam gang, forcing sex services for freedom
A Thai woman filed a complaint against a Thai man who deceived her into working for a scam call centre in Cambodia and forced her into prostitution in exchange for her freedom. Her complaint led to the arrest of the deceptive Thai man and the rescue of two other victims.
The 25 year old victim filed a complaint against the 36 year old Thai man Noppadon Dee-in, also known as Mai Gao Yod, on the official Facebook page of the Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Bureau (IDMB) after she was released from the call centre scam gang in Cambodia.
The woman revealed that Noppadon approached her on Facebook and offered her a job as an administrator for a gambling website based in Cambodia. She accepted the job offer and travelled to Cambodia with Noppadon. However, the woman was eventually detained and forced to work for a call centre scam gang, led by a Taiwanese man named Liang.
The woman refused to work and demanded to return to Thailand. The fraud gang demanded 50,000 baht in exchange for her freedom which she was unable to pay. The gang then forced her to provide sex services at 2,000 baht each time. She said she was repeatedly raped 25 times in exchange for 50,000 baht to buy her freedom.
Police conducted further investigation into Noppadon’s identity and discovered that he was one of the main gang members and had a close relationship with gang leader Liang. Noppadon targeted Thais who had lost their jobs, especially women, and lured them into working for the gang.
If the victims were beautiful, Noppadon would make them work as prostitutes. While investigating the case, officers received a tip-off that Noppadon was about to send two female victims to the gang on Sunday, January 14, so officers had to rush their operation to rescue the victims and arrest Noppadon.
Police arrest
Officers tracked down Noppadon’s phone signal and successfully arrested him at the lobby of The Privacy Ladprao-Sena condominium in the Lat Phrao district of Bangkok. Officers searched his condo and discovered two female victims there.
The two women, aged around 25, were under the influence of crystal meth. They told police they had met Noppadon on Facebook and accepted his job offers. Noppadon told them the jobs were easy and they could return to Thailand whenever they wanted.
The women said they had to travel to Cambodia that day and went to Noppadon’s condo to make the trip easier. They did not know they would be working for a call centre scam or providing sex services in Cambodia.
Officers seized two modified blank guns, 15 bullets, methamphetamine, and crystal methamphetamine, together with drug tools from the room.
Noppadon confessed to tricking Thai victims into working for a call centre fraud gang but denied having a close relationship with the gang leader. He claimed his criminal career began due to trauma after he saw his girlfriend having sex with his father-in-law in 2017.
Noppadon said he tried to take his own life but survived and then decided to travel to work in a call centre scam gang. During his three years in Cambodia, he ran several types of scams and joined more than six gangs. He made about 10 million baht from running a romance scam.
Thai victims
According to Noppadon, the Taiwanese gang leader hired him to trick Thai victims into working for him, paying Noppadon 5,000 baht for each woman.
“I am sorry. I had to do it because he (the Taiwanese leader) threatened me. I am not afraid of being killed but I am afraid for my family. He (the Taiwanese leader) will kill them all if I refuse to work for him. These two blank guns found in my room are for self-protection.”
Police were not convinced by Noppadon’s confession and told the gathering press that they would investigate further. The police believe Noppadon played an important role in the call centre gang.
