Thai police arrest 13 foreigners in an alleged $1.2M investment scam targeting Australians
Thai police said Tuesday over a dozen foreigners, mostly Australians and British, were arrested for allegedly running an online investment fraud that had duped people out of at least 1.9 million Australian dollars (about $1.2 million).
Police raided Monday a rental house in the province of Samut Prakan, neighboring Bangkok, and arrested 13 people, said Jirabhob Bhuridej, chief of the police's Central Investigation Bureau, at a press conference in the Thai capital.
Jirabhob said the Australian Federal Police (AFP) informed Thai authorities last year of a scam group led by an Australian and a British, and a joint investigation was launched.
The alleged scammers operated out of Thailand to swindle money from victims in Australia and potentially other English-speaking countries through online advertisements and phone calls to invest in long-term bonds with a promise of high returns, Jirabhob said.
Footage showed the men after being arrested in the rental house that was converted into an office. Papers of alleged scam scripts and workflow were taped to their partitioned desks. There were also whiteboards the police said were used for tracking their progress, and clocks on a wall showing time zones across Australia.
Thai police said they staked out the house for several months and saw the men coming and going at times that coincided with working hours in Australia. They said they confiscated a number of phones, computers and other electronic devices allegedly used for the scam.
AFP senior officer Kristie-Lee Cressy said at the Bangkok press conference that at least 14,000 Australians had fallen victim to this scam.
'The group amassed at least 1.9 million in (Australian dollars) from Australian victims in just the short time it had been operating. Money that we say was stolen from hard-working Australians and not invested as promised,' she said. 'Shutting down this scam center is a significant win for the communities of Thailand and Australia.'
Australian authorities believe the two leaders of the group had been running scams for many years and operating in several countries, including Indonesia, where they had escaped arrest before being found in Thailand, Jirabhob said.
The group of men arrested in Thailand on Monday includes six British, five Australians, one Canadian and one South African, officials said. They said the suspects denied all wrongdoing, saying that they believed they were working legally for a legitimate investment company.
Immigration officials said they entered Thailand with different kinds of visas, including for retirement and education.
Jirabhob said they were initially charged with racketeering and working in Thailand without a permit. He said further investigation could lead to more serious charges, including fraud and involvement in a transnational organized crime.
Australian police officer Cressy said Australia suffered an estimated damage of 4.45 billion Australian dollars ($2.9 billion) from online scams in the past four years.
A U.N. report in April said transnational organized crime groups in East and Southeast Asia are spreading their lucrative scam operations across the globe in response to increased crackdowns by authorities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
12 hours ago
- BBC News
Devon and Cornwall Police officer charged with raping woman
A Devon and Cornwall Police officer has been charged with James Rawlinson, 36, was postal requisitioned over one charge of raping a woman aged 16 or over, said Devon and Cornwall force said it related to an alleged incident while he was off-duty in Exeter in August said Sgt Rawlinson, who is based in Exeter, had been suspended and he was due to appear at Plymouth Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The states and cities where debt collection calls are surging
American households currently carry a record $18.2 trillion in debt, and delinquencies are rising. An unfortunate consequence is that unpleasant calls from debt collectors are also skyrocketing. Debt collection calls rose by more than 150 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period last year, according to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint data. Individuals may report debt collector calls to the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) or their state's attorney general office. Americans living in Georgia have been the most inundated with these calls, with residents filing 80 complaints per 100,000 people, according to NumberBarn analysis. Atlanta was the worst hit city, with 6,500 complaints made for every 100,000 residents. Texas was the second worst hit state, with locals filing more than 18,000 complaints of debt collector calls - 62 for every 100,000 people. Experts claim the recent surge is down to both legitimate debt collectors ramping up efforts to claim back funds amid economic uncertainty, as well as scammers exploiting the situation by impersonating collectors. Dallas was the city flooded with the second most calls adjusted for population, followed by Miami. Although debt collection call complaints have been steadily rising for the last 10 years - averaging between 35,000 and 45,000 per quarter - the recent spike is notable. The biggest chunk of complaints are made by those aged 30 to 39, a group weighed down by more than half of the nation's student loan debt. This leaves Americans in that age bracket open to legitimate and fraudulent debt collection calls, experts warned. 'When it comes to debt collection, we're seeing a perfect storm right now,' Michael Boggiano, managing partner at Wealthcare Financial, told 'The surge in complaints against collectors reflects both a rise in legitimate frustration and a rise in fraud.' The average American's debt is now $61,660, up $970 from a year ago, according to the New York Federal Reserve. Delinquency is also rising on consumer debt, particularly on auto loans which now account for $1.6 trillion of debt. Michael Boggiano, managing partner at Wealthcare Financial, warned that scams are rising Miami residents have also been inundated with scam calls in the first quarter of the year The recent surge is down to both legitimate debt collectors ramping up efforts to claim back funds amid economic uncertainty, as well as scammers impersonating collectors Almost half of all the call complaints filed in the first quarter of the year were described as 'abusive, threatening or harassing.' That is more than four times the volume that were described as such in the same period of 2024. Experts from NumberBarn say that aggressive or threatening tactics could be a sign a call is a scam, as official debt collectors must follow certain regulations. Debt collectors are barred from using threat or profanity; from calling before 8am or after 9pm; from impersonating law enforcement or a government agency and from attempting to collect debts you do not actually owe. They must also identify themselves. If they evade questions about who their employer is, that could also be a sign the call is a scam.
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Mom gets SCAMMED out of $5k thanks to simple flight booking mistake
A mom has claimed that she was scammed out of $5,250 after trying to contact American Airlines customer service. The woman, named Haylee, detailed her shocking experience in a recent video shared to TikTok, explaining how she was tricked into forking over thousands after accidentally calling the wrong number. 'It's terrible, just listen,' she informed viewers in the beginning of the clip, adding that she 'really needed to talk about it' because she 'couldn't believe' it had happened to her. Haylee explained that she and her family had booked a cruise and were flying with American Airlines. The mom admitted that she 'was not used to flying American Airlines' and had never flown with her children before. She explained that her daughter and niece were on the autism spectrum, so she wanted to call the airline to see if any accommodations could be made. 'So I Google the American Airlines phone number,' she detailed. Haylee went on to explained that she 'clicked on the first number she saw' and didn't notice that the website was 'rerouted.' 'I'm not giving any thought to this and I cannot believe this happened,' she continued in shock. She called the number and spoke to a man who asked for her flight confirmation numbers. 'There's 11 of us going... I give the guy both of the confirmation numbers, and he's spouting off all our information and I'm thinking, "Oh yeah, this is real because he's got all our information." 'He's even saying the last four digits of the cards that were charged.' She also detailed that both her credit card and her father-in-law's were used for the transactions. He then put her on hold and when he returned, he told her he had scored an amazing deal for them that looking back, she now realized was way too good to be true. '[He said], "I can give you" - this is so stupid - "I can give you $150 off per ticket. I'm going to give you priority boarding, we're going to have you sit at the front of the plane,"' she shared. '"But in order to do this, I have to refund both of the cards which could take seven to 20 business days" - that should have been my first red flag. Unfortunately, I am an idiot, and it didn't register to me that that would be sketchy.' The man promised that he'd refund the cards, then recharge one of them for $5,250 - which was $1,600 off the entire trip. Haylee gave him her credit card, but he came back to tell her he needed another card because it 'wasn't letting him use her card.' 'Why did I fall for that? What's wrong with me?' she moaned. She then supplied him with her husband's credit card information, and the scammer went ahead and charged her more than $5,000. 'He sends me an email which he said was a receipt for everything, showing what was refunded,' she detailed. Upon looking at the email, she noticed that it said the refund could take 30 to 45 business days. This is when Haylee realized the man she had been talking to wasn't from American Airlines, but a company called FlightTrip. She soon got off the phone and logged into her American Airlines app to check on her flights. She assumed they wouldn't be valid anymore, but 'the flights were still perfectly intact.' Haylee quickly called American Airlines and was able to get an official agent to help her with her issue. The agent was 'horrified' when Haylee explained her story and told her to dispute the charge. She also later realized the phone number she had initially called had been disconnected. Haylee and her husband both locked their cards and disputed the charge. Viewers were shocked about the mom's story and took to the comment section to share their thoughts. 'This is a nightmare, I hope this blows up thanks for making more people aware,' one user wrote. 'One of those too good to be true situations. I'm sorry that happened to you,' another comment read. A reported fraud department agent even chimed in: 'I work for United Airlines fraud department and the amount of calls we get about these saturations is absurd. Please just go to the airline's website.' 'You had SOOOO many chances to hang up,' someone else argued, while another viewer wrote, 'There's no way people fall for this.' 'Girl. What are you doing?!' a different person asked. 'I work in reservations for another airline! This happens a lot. Please, if it sounds sketchy, hang up,' one user advised. Others shared their own scamming experiences. 'I'm a doctor I got scammed out of $900 I get it,' a person admitted. Another shared: 'This happened to me once when I called or tried to call a cable company, clicked a link, and was rerouted to another link phone number. Luckily I hung up when it started to sound sketchy, but this is definitely a thing.' In an update video, the mom explained that American Airlines had been 'so supportive.' 'They actually looked down our tickets so we can't even access them online anymore, we have to call them,' Haylee explained.
