Jiangxi Dragon gang used call scam tactics
Six Chinese men accused of duping wealthy Thai-Chinese in Chinatown into buying fake gold worth about 10 million baht have been arrested with almost 200 fake ingots.
Investigators from the Metropolitan Police Bureau apprehended the six suspects in front of Hua Lamphong railway station in the Rong Muang area of Pathumwan district on Monday on charges of colluding in theft and criminal association, Pol Maj Gen Teeradej Thumsutee, chief of investigation at the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) said yesterday.
They were identified as Zhong Xiaocong, 44, Li Xiaoyuan, 45, Zeng Nanjing, 54, Yang Cuiyuan, 51, Zhu Zhihua, 48, and Guo Xianyu, 49.
Officers also seized 179 fake gold bars, 10 fake gold statues, 8 thin sheets of real gold, 46 books belonging to a Chinese association in Thailand, 24 ATM cards, 12 mobile phones and goldsmithing tools, Pol Maj Gen Teeradej said.
The suspects were members of the “Mangkorn Jiangxi” [Jiangxi Dragon] gang and allegedly swindled Thais of Chinese descent in Chinatown out of about 10 million baht.
The suspects found their victims in a book detailing names of Thai-Chinese descendants. They selected wealthy people and then phoned them, using the same methods as call scam gangs. The gang had previously worked as phone scammers in Indonesia, Pol Maj Gen Teeradej said.
The gang included real gold among the fake gold, using the former as proof of authenticity. The suspects lied to their victims, claiming to have a gold mining concession in Ayutthaya province.
The arrests followed a complaint by a Chinese man of Thai nationality who said he had been swindled out of 500,000 baht by a Chinese gang into buying gold that later turned out to be fake.
Police investigators found the gang had used a similar ploy to swindle other victims. To entice them into the trap, the gang showed many gold bars and cut one into small pieces that the victims could test to verify.
Gold shops had confirmed the samples were real. Once the money was paid, the gang vanished. The victims only then found out the gold was counterfeit.
All suspects denied the charges. They told police that they had travelled from Jiangxi in China, but admitted they worked for a phone scam gang in Indonesia before moving to Thailand.
The suspects were handed over to police at the adjacent Noppawong railway station for legal action.