According to authorities, a Hong Kong couple allegedly used special equipment to send bulk SMS with dangerous connections.
PUBLISHED: 9 Apr 2024 at 20: 07
Two Hong Kong people were detained on Tuesday night in Siam Paragon, according to police, after they sent little communications with phony links to steal money from phone users in Bangkok shopping malls.
Tai Loi, 43, and Man Lok Lee, 25, were arrested in front of the store in Pathumwan area with a lightweight electric system known as a false basic stop or” Stingray” and four mobile phones, said Pol Lt Gen Worawat Watnakhonbancha, director of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau.
He claimed that the system and the phones were used to fake small messages that advised mobile phone users that their reward points were about to disappear and that they may click connections to redeem rewards.
After clicking the links, victims were directed to fake websites and persuaded to enter personal information, which left them with no money until they lost their mobile banking accounts.
The amount of money used in the scheme was not made public.
The Stingray that the , suspects used could send short messages to 20, 000 to 30, 000 phone numbers in a one- kilometre radius. These swindlers typically operate at shopping centers and markets where a large number of people use mobile banking accounts to make payments.
The Hong Kong men told the police they had met Aken, a man from Malaysia, who had instructed them to bring the bag from the Erawan Shrine to specific locations in a rucksack.
They claimed they had also visited CentralWorld and Iconsiam shopping malls, adding that they did not know what the device was intended for.