BANGKOK, March 3 — Police have nabbed a Malaysian man and his Thai wife for allegedly having swindled victims out of millions of baht in a phone scam.
The 29-year-old man and his 33-year-old wife, who led a lavish lifestyle, were arrested on Saturday in Bungkum, Bangkok, after a woman lodged a police report at Loei police station in northeast Thailand. The woman lost 3,000 baht to the phone scam.
It is believed the couple, who has been in the kingdom for two years, has ripped off at least 50 million baht from victims after running the phone scam.
Commander of Provincial Police Region 4 Pol. Gen Lt. Charoenwit Sriwanich said police found 10 million baht in cash, hundreds of ATM cards, mobile phones and other electronic devices in their 8-million baht house.
“Police also seized two luxurious cars – Hummer and Mercedes Benz – as well as freezing 10 million baht in bank accounts,” he told Bernama when contacted.
Charoenwit said an initial investigation found that the couple search for victims who were cheated by online shopping sites through Facebook and making contact with the victims.
“They will provide advice to the victims on how to get the money back from the online shopping sites.
“Then, the victims will be provided a bank link for them to log into their bank account. They will surrender their online banking username, password, and one-time pin (OTP) verification code. Later, the scammer will transfer the money to a safe account,” he said.
The couple was charged with fraud, impersonation, and online forgery.
— Bernama
