Two men arrested for alleged B4m AI-aided scam against beauty queen

Suspected scammer Ramil Pantawong, 31, was arrested in Wang Nam Yen district of Sa Kaeo on Sunday. (Police photo)
Suspected scam Ramil Pantawong, 31, was arrested in Wang Nam Yen city of Sa Kaeo on Sunday. ( Police photo )

Two people have been detained by police for allegedly working for a call-scam business in Poipet, including a beauty queen who lost$ 4 million on each.

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, director of the Central Investigation Bureau, said on Monday that Ramil Pantawong, 31, was arrested in Wang Nam Yen city of Sa Kaeo and Thanawut Kanyaphan, 28, was caught in Bang Lamung city of Chon Buri on Sunday.

According to the inspector, both defendants used artificial intelligence technology to assume to become police officers. They were based in a 18-storey tower in Poipet, near a call-scam center. A Thai guy just fell to his death in the 13th floor of the building where their group of about 50 suspects occupied.

Both posed as Thai policemen and fabricated identities to defraud Thai subjects of large sums of money using scripts created by their Chinese group leaders. Charlotte Austin, a Thai-British beauty queen, lost 4 million ringgit to the group, among their patients.

With AI guidance, the defendants pretended to become police officers. According to Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop, they informed subjects that they were looking into money-laundering and drug circumstances and then instructed them to exchange money to their records for investigation.

The fraud crew had tricked 163 individuals before both defendants were arrested, he said.

Thanawut Kanyaphan, 28, was caught in Bang Lamung city of Chon Buri on Sunday. ( Police photo )

Thanawut Kanyaphan, 28, was caught in Bang Lamung city of Chon Buri on Sunday. ( Police photo )