Joint raids result in arrest of 74 Thai call-centre sharks in Cambodia

Pol General Damrongsak Kittiprapas, deputy national police chief and director of the Police Cyber Taskforce (PCT), announced this success while visiting Phnom Penh on Monday morning.

Damrongsak was in the Cambodian capital with Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn to sign a memorandum of understanding on the suppression of call-centre gangs and cybercrime.

The deputy national police chief said PCT had earlier dispatched some 20 police officers to join their Cambodian counterparts in raiding five call-centre sites, which resulted in the arrest of 74 suspects.

The suspects will be returned to Thailand once the legal process in Cambodia is completed, he said.

According to Damrongsak, 21 suspects were arrested at a hotel in Sihanoukville on June 21. These suspects allegedly used the Tinder dating app to deceive fellow Thais into falling in love and then talking them into spending on fraudulent investments. Another 10 suspects were arrested on the same day in a different spot in Sihanoukville. They allegedly deceived their Thai victims into going in for false loans. Some of these suspects were also accused of pretending to be Chanthaburi police officers.

No arrests were made at a third raid in a Sihanoukville casino on the same day.

However, on July 6 another 18 suspects were arrested in Sihanoukville, Damrongsak said. This group allegedly deceived their victims by pretending to be Laem Chabang police officers.

One day later, another 25 suspects were nabbed in Poi Pet for allegedly deceiving their victims by pretending to be DHL officials and Chanthaburi police officers.

Damrongsak said PCT has obtained 237 arrest warrants against call-centre gangs over the past year and has arrested 138 suspects so far.