Thailand’s Cyber Crime Suppression Division conducted a raid on Thursday, January 9 in the Bueng Kum district of Bangkok, uncovering an elaborate SMS scam.
The operation involved a False Base Station device and led to the arrest of two Chinese nationals, 49 year old Li Chuyuan and 47 year old Zhu Xiangwu.
Officers seized several items, including the False Base Station, 11 mobile phones, more than 30 SIM cards, and numerous bank account books and ATM cards.
The suspects are accused of sending fraudulent SMS messages containing malicious links to steal money, focusing on busy locations like ICONSIAM, Asiatique, and CentralWorld. Their mobile operation used a vehicle that transmitted signals within a 1 to 3 kilometre radius, disrupting local mobile networks and affecting over 30,000 phone numbers. This scam provided opportunities for call centre fraudsters to entice victims into clicking deceptive links.
Thai investigators, in collaboration with AIS engineers, tracked the suspects to their hideout. The two men, who entered Thailand in mid-December claiming to be tour guides, denied any involvement, asserting that they had borrowed the vehicles. Nonetheless, evidence linked them to the SMS scam activities over the past four days, reported The Pattaya News.
Police are currently searching for a third Chinese accomplice who has been renting the same residence for almost a year.
SMS scams in Thailand have surged, making the country the most targeted in Asia. In 2023, Thai citizens received approximately 58 million fraudulent messages, marking a 17% increase from 2022. Each Thai citizen received an average of 20.3 fraudulent SMS messages in 2023, the highest rate in Asia. Combined with scam calls, there were 79 million fraud attempts in Thailand in 2023, an 18% increase from the previous year, reported The Nation.
In related news, Thai telecom heavyweight True Corporation has firmly denied allegations of supplying SIM cards in bulk to call centre gangs, following a dramatic police raid in Bangkok.
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