Taiwanese call-centre scam suspect extradited to Thailand
Thai prosecutors and Interpol officers on Wednesday took custody of a Taiwanese man, suspected to be a deputy leader of a call-centre gang, who was extradited from Albania.
Prayuth Phetkhun, deputy spokesman of the Office of Attorney-General (OAG), said the suspect, Tzu Yuan Kuo, reached Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday in a smooth extradition operation.
Prayuth said Kuo was arrested in Tirana, the capital of Albania, on September 27 last year and Albanian authorities alerted Thai authorities to initiate the extradition process.
The spokesman said Kuo’s gang allegedly operated from Dubai to make VOIP (voice-over-IP) or Internet-based calls to deceive victims in Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan.
Several Thais have fallen victim to the gang members, who masqueraded as court officials, post officials, police officers, Department of Special Investigation officials, anti-money laundering officials, drug suppression officers and central bank officials.
Prayut said the gang mainly deceived their victims by saying that their bank accounts were involved with drug money. The gangsters would then ask for personal data from the victims, such as names, ID card numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers and the number on the back of their credit cards.
The gangsters would also deceive their victims to make them transfer money.
Prayuth said the OAG had filed a criminal lawsuit against Kuo and alleged accomplices in absentia in 2018 before arrest warrants were issued against them by the Phra Khanong Court and the Interpol.