Police Bust 2 Chinese Men Teaching Phone Scamming

In Northern Thailand, police raided a commercial space in San Sai, Chiang Mai, where a “school” was allegedly training jobless people to work as phone scammers from Myanmar.

An estimated 20 crime suppression police, armed with a warrant from the Chiang Mai Provincial Court, searched the three-story commercial building in San Sai on Wednesday.

Pol Maj Gen Veerachon Boonthawee, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5, said they were acting after receiving information that the building, rented by a Chinese national, was being used for a call center scam.

On the second floor, two Chinese men and five Thai women were working in front of computers. About ten computers showed advertisements encouraging Thais to apply for well-paid jobs. The applicants would undergo training in Chiang Mai and then be sent to Myanmar.

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In the ads, it said job applicants could be taken across the border with 100% safety, Pol Maj Gen Veerachon said.

As a result of the arrests, seven suspects were taken into custody to be questioned for allegedly putting false information into a computer system.

Investigators report that the Chinese leader of a phone scam gang rented the building many months ago and hired women to post advertisements for jobs for people laid off by Covid-19.

Training would be provided to applicants for working the phones at a school in the building. These individuals would then be sent to call centers in Myanmar, where they would target and dupe Thai and Chinese victims into transferring money to them.

The police chief said investigators were aware of the activities of phone scam gangs in many areas. Their victims suffered tremendous damage, and major operations were planned to shut them down.