Thais, Chinese and Burmese arrested over Phuket’s 13 million baht ‘call centre’ gang

“Police seized 8 laptops, 4 wi-fi routers, 150 mobile phones, 4 iPad tablets, one money counting machine, 135 credit cards, 6 ATM cards, 52 SIM cards, 13,568,570 baht in cash, 3,800 yuan cash and one new Mercedes Benz CLA 200.”

Representatives of the Tourist Police Bureau, based in Bangkok, have arrested 2 Thais, 22 Chinese and 1 Burmese who were allegedly working for a call-centre scam gang that has stolen some 13 million baht to date. The arrests happened in Patong today.

The arrests come after the Tourist Police were notified by Jilin Police in China that Jilin City has been badly affected by call centre gangs. Some victims have committed suicide over losses from gangs, some of them based in Patong, Phuket. Jilin Police have worked with Thai Tourist Police to crack down on the call centre gangs in Thailand.

Local Tourist Police Bureau have conducted an investigation and found that many Chinese have been involved in the gangs and are the heading up the setting up of scams in Thailand.

A team of Tourist Police Bureau, led by Deputy Commander of the Tourist Police Bureau, Maj Gen Surachete Hakparn, Jilin Police from China, the Phuket Tourist Police and Patong Tourist Police, totaling 80 officers, raided six targeted locations in Patong today.

2 Thais, 22 Chinese and 1 Burmese were found to be involved with the local call centre gang.

5 Chinese and the 1 Burmese have also been arrested for over-staying their visas.

Police seized 8 laptops, 4 wi-fi routers, 150 mobile phones, 4 iPad tablets, one money counting machine, 135 credit cards, 6 ATM cards, 52 SIM cards, 13,568,570 baht in cash, 3,800 yuan cash and one new Mercedes Benz CLA 200.

Maj Gen Surachet says, “This is a large and sophisticated ‘call centre’ gang. We have had good international co-operation, especially with our Chinese counterparts. We are continuing to crack down on other call center gangs. ”