Arresting a call center gang network claiming to be the Consumer Protection Board, defrauding female civil servants

Bangkok, Cyber ??police arrest call center gang network claiming to be the Consumer Protection Board, defrauding female civil servants, causing them to lose more than 700,000 baht. On the afternoon of March 14, 2024, a scammer called a female civil servant, posing as an officer from the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB), claiming that the victim had used her ID card to open a SIM card and bank account. The information was used to open a Facebook fan page to trick people into buying weight loss products, resulting in a large number of complaints. The scammer then told the victim that she had to verify her identity and denied any involvement with the Consumer Protection Police Division (CPD), which is located in Bangkok. This led the victim to believe her and become afraid. However, at that time, the victim was living in Mueang District, Maha Sarakham Province, making it inconvenient to travel. The scammer then advised the victim to verify her identity via Line instead. Later, the perpetrator tr ansferred the call to Pol. Lt. Manoon, who pretended to be a police officer from the Consumer Protection Police Division. After that, he had the victim add him as a friend on the LINE account named 'Consumer Crime Suppression Division' and chatted with Pol. Lt. Col. Thirapop, who also pretended to be a police officer from the Consumer Protection Police Division. Pol. Lt. Col. Thirapop informed the victim that he was involved in a money laundering case, so he had to transfer money to the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO). He then had the victim make a video call to talk to the fraudster who pretended to be an AMLO officer via video call. The fake officer informed him that the victim's bank account had to be frozen until the asset investigation was complete. The scammer then had the victim install an application called 'AMLO' downloaded via Google Chrome. Once the installation was complete, the victim was asked to fill in information and follow the steps as instructed. Finally, the scammer sent the victim a bank account number for them to transfer money to verify. The victim believed the scammer and transferred money to the scammer 3 times, totaling 631,273.83 baht. Later, the scammer asked the victim to check the credit card application of a bank installed on the victim's mobile phone and tricked the victim into transferring money from the application to the victim's own bank account 3 times, totaling 70,000 baht. The scammer then tricked the victim into transferring the money in the account for the AMLO to check. The total amount that the victim transferred was 701,273.83 baht. When she realized this, she went to file a police report. Pol. Lt. Gen. Worawat Wattanakornbancha, Commander of the Technology Crime Suppression Division, therefore ordered an investigation into the case, which led to the collection of evidence and arrest warrants for several accomplices. On July 9, 2014, officers went to the area, along with arrest warrants from the Maha Sarakham Provincial Court, to track down and arrest two suspect s. Ms. Angkana, aged 31, was arrested in Village 15, Tambon Sakhwan, Mueang District, Sa Kaeo Province, and Mr. Chanchai, aged 34, was arrested in Village 10, Tambon Sakhwan, Mueang District, Sa Kaeo Province, for the offenses of 'jointly defrauding the public by impersonating others, jointly entering distorted or forged computer data, whether in whole or in part, or false computer data into a computer system. In a manner that is likely to cause damage to others or the public and jointly accessing a computer system that has specific access prevention measures and such measures are not intended for them, colluding by agreement of 2 or more persons to commit money laundering and having committed money laundering because of the colluding and jointly laundering money.' The arresting officers therefore took him to the investigation officers of the Technology Crime Suppression Division 3, to proceed with legal action. They are also expediting the investigation to arrest the suspects in the gang who are still at l arge and bring them to justice. Source: Thai News Agency