8 held in Udon, Taiwan over phone
Six call-centre scam suspects were arrested in Udon Thani, while the alleged gang leader, a Taiwanese man, was nabbed with his Thai wife in Taiwan, following a police complaint filed by a businesswoman who claims she was duped out of Bt4.3 million.
Muang Udon Thani police inspector Lt-Colonel Prasert Thammachai said that in early March the gang, posing as Anti-Money Laundering Office officials, told Yuree Kaewbuarawat, 49, that a drug gang had conducted transactions through her bank account. They told her to transfer money to the agency’s central bank account for an investigation, or her assets would be seized. Yuree wired a total of Bt4.3 million to the gang’s account.
Following the money trail, police found that most of the money had been withdrawn. They froze Bt198,000 in an account and arrested a woman who tried to withdraw it, leading to the arrest of the other five in Udon Thani, and the seizure of some 100 bank account books and ATM cards, a skimming device, a computer notebook and five cell phones. Police also had their Taiwanese counterparts arrest Chen Chil Ching, 52, and Dolawan Chen, 38. The couple is accused of leading the gang from Taiwan to conduct fraud and money laundering. Bank accounts of the couple containing Bt10 million were frozen.
