Thai cyber police have arrested a Chinese suspect and are searching for two other subjects on fraud charges.
According to Thai media, this group of criminals convinced a 19-year-old young man named Mik to steal cash and valuable assets from his mother's safe, about 6.8 million baht (about 5.56 billion VND).
Mik was targeted through a 24/7 video call campaign. In these calls, scammers impersonated officials from many different government agencies.
The group convinced Mik that he was under arrest and needed to cooperate to avoid serious legal consequences for both themselves and their mother.
The scammers initially contacted Mik via mobile phone, then moved the conversation to the LINE messaging app. Here, they send fake documents from the network police and other authorities to strengthen trust.
Under the surveillance of the suspects through video calls, on November 19, the young man returned home and took the belongings in his mother's safe. That evening, he traveled from Samut Prakan to Nonthaburi to hand over valuable assets to a collection team.
The next morning, the scammers continued to demand more money. Mik used his mother's phone to transfer more money before she discovered the unusual transactions. She reported the incident to Mueang Samut Prakan District Police, who coordinated with cybercrime investigators.
Authorities have arrested Qin, a 31-year-old Chinese man, in Huai Khwang District, Bangkok. Qin admitted to working with two other Chinese citizens, Huang and Chang. These two subjects were accused of arranging logistics and selling stolen items at a shopping mall in Bangkok.
The police have recovered gold bars worth about 3.5 million baht ($107,000). The assets will be returned to the family, along with other evidence including a Lao bank note and two cars - a Mercedes-Benz and a Toyota Fortuner.
The arrest warrant for the remaining two suspects was approved on November 24. The police are trying to track down these two subjects and calling on the public to be vigilant against scams related to impersonating officials and threatening legal action.
