Police have arrested four Malaysian men for making ATM withdrawals of about 2 million baht from accounts of phone scam victims living in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
Ling Ho Soon, 33, Ong Tun Kuan, 29, Khar Kean Hau, 28, and Khor Ko Fong, 31, were arrested on Sunday after they had withdrawn the money from accounts of three victims this month, Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal, deputy commissioner of tourist police, said on Monday.
The suspects had visited Thailand several times and stayed for about a week each time, making withdrawals from ATMs.
They worked for two phone scam networks, one of which was based in Dubai. Gang members phoned victims and said they were bank officials and tricked them into giving them one-time passwords which they used to withdraw money from the victims' accounts, Pol Maj Surachet said.
Police had seized 10 ATM cards found in their possession, plus five mobile phones and clothes they used while making withdrawals from ATMs in Bangkok and in Nakhon Si Thammarat province earlier this month. They were charged with public fraud.
Pol Maj Gen Surachet said police had sought 427 warrants for the arrest of suspects involved in scam phone calls, of which 88 still had to be served.
