PUBLISHED : 13 Jan 2024 at 04:00
The police, in partnership with the Digital Economy and Society Ministry (DES) and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo), have seized more than 1.2 billion baht’s worth of assets believed to be linked to a call centre gang operated by a woman identified as Thararat, who has been prosecuted in multiple fraud cases.
The assets were confiscated on Thursday during raids on 13 locations in Chiang Mai, Nonthaburi and Bangkok, said Prasert Chantararuangthong, the DES minister.
Among the assets seized were 77 rare antique cars, 84 land title deeds, cash, gold, two houses and luxury watches, he said. About 50 such cars were seized in Chiang Mai alone and owned by a man linked to Thararat.
Prior to the crackdown, Amlo had confiscated around 924 million baht’s worth of assets connected to the gang, Mr Prasert said.
However, more than 3 billion baht had already been transferred to operators of online gambling websites and laundered into money orders and property.
According to police investigations, the gang lured victims via phone calls, SMS messages or the Facebook messenger app, pretending to be a state official and duping the victims into transferring money to the gang’s accounts, explained Mr Prasert.
The authorities have found that the gang also scammed victims into investing in Chinese yuan and Chinese import product ventures. At least 54 people have lodged complaints about such scams with the police.
Thararat, along with other gang members, is now being prosecuted for acts of fraud in Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen and Bangkok. More raids are expected in the future, he said.