15 suspected members of transnational scam gang arrested in Bangkok

Fifteen non-Thai suspects, allegedly part of a transnational scam gang, were arrested in a raid on a luxury house in the Bang Bon area of Bangkok by Thai immigration police yesterday.

Police Maj-Gen. Panthana Nutchanart, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said that his team also seized several cellphones, laptops, SIM cards and fake Japanese police uniforms from the house.

He claimed that the scam syndicate was operated by Chinese nationals, while Japanese were hired as to contact their potential victims. He added that gang members would first approach the potential targets, claiming that they had parcels delivered to them, the contents of which were contraband. Then the first scammer would transfer the line to the next scammer, who would claim to be a Japanese police officer and intimidate the potential victims till they agreed to pay money in exchange for the case being dropped.

Panthana claimed that the gang had been operating for about a year and police had been keeping a close watch on its activities for months before the raid yesterday.

The second floor of the house is divided into different compartments and each was used to scam potential victims.