Crime

Thai Police Bust Nigerian Man Over Bt200 Million Romance Scam

Thailand’s Crime Suppression police have arrested a 44 year-old Nigerian man and 5 Thai over a Bt200 million romance scam. Crime suppression police search of seven locations to the arrest of the six suspects.

Pol Maj Gen Suwat Saengnoom, chief of the Crime Suppression police, said he suspects were identified as Ms Punyawee Chusinjiraphat, 46; Mr Ezeneche Uzochukwu Jorome, 44, a Nigerian national; Ms Sasithorn Nuankaew, 22; Mr Sudjai Kamnon, 34; Mr Thotsaphol Siripru, 33, and Mr Nirandon Thianthavorn, 29.

They were charged with collusion to defraud and putting false information into the computer system, said the CSD commander.

Seized from them were a new Mitsubishi Pajero sport vehicle, 906,000 baht in cash, seven mobile phones, 18 bank account books, several sets of ornaments, 11 watches, two ivory ornaments and 11 electronic cards.

The arrest came after a victim filed a complaint with Pol Maj Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) last year, saying she had been swindled out of Bt1 million in a romance scam.

Gang used Line App and Instagram

CSD investigators began the probe and found that the gang, comprising both Thais and foreign nationals, had colluded in swindling the complainant.

One member of the gang opened an Instagram account under the name Mr Lanny Gray. He then approached the victim, claiming to be an American businessman working in Malaysia.

After befriending the victim, the man switched to communicating through the Line chat app, sending numerous messages and promising to come and live in Thailand with her. After gaining her trust, he told her she would send parcels containing valuable items to her.

Another gang member, a Thai, later contacted the victim by phone, claiming to be an agent from a shipping firm and telling her to pay fees in order to receive the parcels.

The woman had paid almost 1 million baht but had yet to receive any packages, said Pol Maj Gen Suwat.

After receiving money from the victim, the gang also tried to swindle more money from her. Another gang member, claiming to be a hospital employee from Malaysia, had phoned her and said Mr Lanny Gray had suffered serious injuries in an accident and was under treatment at a hospital.

The impostor had asked her to pay almost 500,000 baht in medical bills for Mr Gray. The woman became suspicious and tried to contact him but failed. She decided not to wire the money and filed a complaint with police at Wang Thong Lang police station.

Nigerian and Thai wife gang leaders

Pol Col Wiwat Jitsophakul, superintendent of the CSD sub-division 3, who led the arrest, said investigators took more than five months to find clues about seven people involved the scam. The investigation found that the Nigerian suspect, Ezeneche Uzochukwu Jorome, and his wife Punyawee were leaders of the gang.

Several women had fallen victim to the gang over the past few years, said Pol Col Wiwat.

The gang had used about 50 bank accounts of other people to receive money transfers from victims. Once money had been transferred, they used ATM cards to withdraw the money and deposited it to personal bank accounts, said the sub-division 3 chief.

Between 2020 and 2021, about 200 million baht had been in circulation in a bank account held by Ms Punyawee, said Pol Col Wiwat.

The Nigerian suspect had run a restaurant and a currency exchange shop as front businesses to conceal his wrongdoings. Police seized documents from those businesses for examination.

The CSD investigators also found that the Nigerian suspect had committed a similar offence in 2018 in Chiang Mai by claiming to be a decommissioned South African military officer to lure his victim online. The investigators believed several women had fallen victim to this gang.

During the questioning, the six suspects denied all charges. They were handed over to Wang Thong Lang police for legal action. Police were extending the investigation and tracking down the seventh suspect, who was still at large.

Source: Bangkok Post, Thairath

Crime

Police Officer Being Ordained at Temple Arrested for Running Scam Call Center

Police in Northern Thailand have arrested a fellow officer as he was being ordained at a temple in Ngao district of neighbouring Lampang province.

Pol Lt Col Bandit Khonkan chief inspector from the Hang Dong police station was disrobed and taken to the Chang Puak station in Chiang Mai. He was arrested on charges of running a call centre scam gang in Chiang Mai Province.

According to Thai Media Chiang Mai Provincial Police Region 5 obtained an arrest warrant for Pol Lt Col Bandit on Friday from the Chiang Mai Provincial Court for procuring illegal telecom equipment, setting up a station and using public airwaves to run a telecommunications business without permission.

Pol Lt Col Bandit reportedly told investigators that he was not the ringleader and was only a member of the gang with Chinese partners.

His arrest followed the apprehension of his 26-year-old daughter, Miss Wanuchapond, 26, and three others during raids at three housing projects in Chiang Mai on Friday, Pol Maj Gen Weerachon Boontawee, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5 told Thai media.

During the raids police police discovered around 12 GSM gateways, or SIM boxes, which are devices used for converting cellular networks into mobile phone numbers used domestically.

The chief inspectors daughter Miss Wanuchapond told the arresting officers that she was paid 8,000 baht a month at each of the three locations for renting thr rooms and monitoring devices.

She claimed she had no idea what the devices were and accepted the job because the pay was attractive.

Police investigators working with telecom regulators used a special tracking device to monitor the gang’s communications and learned that its base was in Myanmar opposite Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.

The call center gang used the GSM gateways to make calls over the internet to scam people in Thailand out of million of baht.

The GSM gateways transmitting signals via SIM boxes to convert them into domestic phone numbers, duping victims into thinking they were being called from Thai government agencies.

Pol Maj Gen Weerachon said that each SIM box held 32 SIM cards, with a capacity of up to 300,000 calls a month. The seized devices had made fraudulent calls over 3.6 million times.

He said the their investigation is ongoing and they are working to track down the remaining conspirators, including Chinese and other Thai suspects.

Authorities are still deciding whether Pol Lt Col Bandit will be dismissed from the force, he said, adding that so far, no other officers are known to have been involved.

Police in Chiang Rai Launch Crackdown on Cyber Criminals in Golden Triangle

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin has authorized the establishment of an emergency cyber center operated by the Royal Thai Police to combat transnational crimes committed by call center gangs along the Thai border in Chiang Rai province.

On July 19, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin directed the Center to combat information technology crimes. The Royal Thai Police (Royal Thai Police) will crack down on call center gangs in Myanmar, Laos, and along the border.

His directive comes as call center gangs ratchet up their scams to defraud people of their money, causing concern among Thais and jeopardizing the country’s economic and social stability.

Related Police News:

Machete Wielding Man Shot an Killed by Police in Chiang Rai

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/chiangrai-news/machete-wielding-man-shot-an-killed-by-police-in-chiang-rai/

Crime

Thai Immigration Police Arrest Colombian Tourists Over Home Invasions

Immigration police officers have arrested four Colombian nationals in connection with a series of home burglaries at luxury housing complexes in the Bangkok metropolitan area and Chiang Buri Province.

Pol Maj Gen Panthana Nuchanart, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, told a press briefing that three of the suspects were apprehended in Nonthaburi Province and the fourth in South Pattaya, Chon Buri Province.

According to the Bangkok Post, the Colombians were charged with stealing conspiracy and seized around 3 million baht (US$82,500.00).

According to Pol Maj Gen Panthana, the criminals rode motorcycles through housing estates, scoping out the properties and waiting for the owners to depart before committing their crimes.

He stated that all four of the accused denied any involvement in the home break-ins, but the arresting squad discovered evidence that implicated them.

Police called to home invasion

Meanwhile, police were dispatched to a luxury housing development in Tambon Nong Prue, Chonburi Province, after a Chinese man was attacked during a house invasion.

When they arrived, they discovered the house owner, Mr. Qian Peng Yi, visibly scared and with marks from being tied up with a cable. He informed police that three Chinese males broke into his home at 9 p.m., one of whom brandished a gun at him and directed him to his bedroom.

They bound his hands and feet, gagged him with fabric, taped his head, and forced him into the bed. The intruders then attempted to compel him into transferring 10 million baht in cryptocurrencies to them, endangering the life of his 33-year-old cousin who was in a second-floor bedroom.

While they scoured the house in search of riches, Mr. Peng Yi managed to flee and hide; he subsequently observed them leave with his cousin. Officials investigated the property and analyzed security camera footage from the incident and surrounding areas.

Around 9 p.m., a 30-year-old van driver came at the Bang Lamung police station after being contacted by an agency to carry Chinese customers from Pattaya to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The driver informed authorities that he was supposed to pick them up at a motel about a kilometer from the Chinese businessman’s home. He then drove them to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, arriving at 1 a.m. and receiving 1,800 baht.

The driver took a snapshot of the group smoking at the airport gate and identified one of them as the victim’s cousin. Police suspected coordination between her and the three suspects in her cousin’s heist, who all departed Thailand on the same aircraft.

Other Bangkok News:

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Crime

Son of Thailand’s Leading Legal Scholar on Corruption Arrested for Running Online Gambling Network

The son of a former senator and leading economist and expert on corruption and gambling in Thailand has been arrested for on charges of running an online gambling network and its payment system.

Police from Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) have confiscated assets worth more than (US$ 11.1 million) 400 million baht.

Narote Piriyarangsan, 33, was arrested following crackdowns in three sites around the city, according to Pol Maj Gen Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of the police Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).

Mr Narote’s father, Sangsit Piriyarangsan, is an economist who has written articles and books about corruption and gambling. He was one of the appointed senators that were investigating the government’s intention to legalize casino gaming before their terms expired.

Police also detained 39-year-old Narayut Narakaew, the owner of the gambling website 69pgslot.com. The Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the couple for operating an internet gambling service and money laundering.

According to the Bangkok Post, police seized two desktop computers, one laptop computer, 14 mobile phones, 21 bank passbooks, 53 ATM cards, and four high-end cars — a Ferrari 926 GTS, an Aston Martin, a Lexus, and a Subaru — totaling more than 400 million baht.

Police launched the inquiry after discovering the online gambling site, which accepted funds via an automatic deposit-withdrawal system through bank accounts and deposits in the AskMePay system. Players scanned the VPay QR code as well as the QR codes for Heng Online 888 or Heng Pay Company.

Police also discovered that payments received via QR code scans were transferred to the account of Heng Pay Co and then to the gambling website’s mule accounts using AskMePay, which did not use banks’ face recognition scanning. An inquiry indicated a monthly turnover of approximately 5 billion baht.

According to investigators, the website has been up and running for around four years, with the payment mechanism in use for roughly eight months.

According to Pol Maj Gen Athip, Mr Narote owns the gaming website’s payment systems and is the director of Heng Pay Co. After gathering evidence, authorities requested arrest warrants for 14 people.

Thailand does not allow almost any kind of gaming. Even though the law doesn’t say anything specific about online gaming, it is still considered gambling. The country has pretty strict rules about gambling. Thai punters can bet on the national lottery and horse races, but they can’t bet on any other types of games.

But it’s not a secret that there is a huge illegal gaming business in Thailand, even though it’s illegal.

The illegal casinos, online betting shops, underground lotteries, and pop-up bookies that take bets on everything from cockfights to Muay Thai make a shadow economy that is worth billions of dollars every year.