Thai police nab nearly two dozens of fraudulent call center culprits

BANGKOK, December 7 (TNA) - Thai police have successfully apprehended 21 members of a fraudulent call center network, including three Taiwanese culprits, and are tracking down others for prosecution. The police told journalists in Bangkok on Thursday that the arrest of the 21 culprits followed a series of raids for a thorough search at 22 targeted sites in northern Thai areas and two others in the capital. According to the police, the arrested culprits, including a commander, identified as Aphichart Kantavisit, two senior workers and 15 operators, all are Thai nationals who were charged with fraud by disguising themselves as other persons, as well as three other Taiwanese members who were charged with illegally holding electronic cards (e-cards) of other persons and overstaying in the Thai Kingdom. Police Major General Surachet Hakpal, Acting Tourism Police Chief, said his tourism police team had joined forces with local police and officials of the Anti­Money Laundering Office (AMLO) to arrest the 21 culprits for interrogations and prosecution and will soon seek for court approvals of arrest warrants against other culprits being tracked down in foreign countries, one of them was found staying in neighboring Cambodia and was set to be sent to Thailand by December 7. Police Major General Surachet advised people who became victims of the fraudulent gang to report to local police for the immediate suspension of bank accounts of the culprits and to seek a return of their assets seized by the gang. Meanwhile, Police Lieutenant Thanitsak Thirasawadi, Acting Special Advisor to the Royal Thai Police, told reporters that fraudulent call center gangs had moved their bases from Malaysia to Thailand and Cambodia but all of them remain connected with each other, as their commanders have been abroad and hired Thai employees to work for them, focusing on luring the elderly victims. Police Lieutenant Thanitsak reported that Thai police have cracked down large fraudulent call center gangs in the country for four times so far, sought 146 court approvals of culprits, 98 of them have been arrested, 41 others are being tracked down and seven others have remained at large in foreign countries, while assets of victims, totally worth over 120 million baht, have been seized. (TNA)