Thai nationals arrested for being involved in call center scam in Taiwan

BANGKOK, Jan 26 (TNA) - Eight Thai nationals were arrested for their involvement in a phone scam gang in Taiwan, said Director-General of the Department of Employment, Anurak Tossarat. He said he was reported by Thai labour office in Kaohsiung that eight Thai citizens including five men and three women were arrested for the extortion scam. Five Thai men are Thai workers, breaching their employment contract while three women were deceived by a Taiwanese man to work while traveling on tourist visas. The Thai citizens were arrested while they were studying conversation textbooks to coerce victims to transfer the money but they had not yet operated the phone scam. Taiwanese police submitted the case to prosecutors. Five men would be deported while three women were released to travel home by themselves. The director-general warned Thai people, working overseas not to join a scammer ring, otherwise, they will be prosecuted and deported. Mr Anurak said 115,215 Thai citizens were permitted to work abroad in 2017. Most of them or 35,199 persons went to work in Taiwan, mainly through recruitment companies. To dupe targets, call center scammers pose as officials and threaten prosecution to force the victims to transfer money into their bank accounts. (TNA)