Chiang Mai –
A group of 24 Thai and Chinese suspects was arrested at a resort in Chiang Mai today, May 19th, for reportedly conducting romantic scams among Japanese nationals on an online dating application.
Officials from the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) and Chiang Mai Police captured a total of 20 Chinese and 4 Thai nationals at Ban Nong Yao Resort in Mae Soon Subdistrict, Fang District. About 10 notebooks, 10 computer screens, 10 CPUs, 224 mobile phones, 6 SIM cards, and 2 flash drives were found and confiscated during the raid.
Police General Wisnu Prasarttong-Osoth from the Royal Thai Police gave details that the alleged scammers would create accounts on various dating applications using fake names and profile pictures of beautiful women to trick the victims, both Thais and foreigners, especially Japanese nationals.
They would start talking in a persuasive conversation, tricking the victims to trust them before telling them to jointly invest in a business by opening an account in the MetaTrader application to enter a fraudulent investment process. Then, there was another group that would create fake data on the platform to trick the victims into believing that they could actually trade real money. Once, the victims did the trading, the alleged scammers would immediately disconnect and disappear.
According to the initial investigation, each suspect would earn 25,000-35,000 baht per month from doing so and would be working from 9:00 AM. to 9:00 PM. on Monday-Friday and from 12:00 PM. to 5:00 PM. on Saturday and Sunday.
They were initially charged with conspiracy and importing false and deceitful information into a computer system. All of the 20 Chinese suspects were additionally facing a charge of residing in the Kingdom without permission.
Photo Courtesy: Matichon
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