Taking the fight to fraud gangs

Police have arrested hundreds of members of 'call centre gangs' in recent years for using phones and the internet to cheat victims out of hundreds of millions of baht in con games. New centres have continued to pop up, often involving (such as above) Thai and Chinese fraudsters from the mainland and Taiwan. (Photo courtesy Royal Thai Police)

Police have devised a new strategy to fight the proliferation of call centre gangs by suppressing them at their roots and at their sources overseas.

Heavily coordinated suppression by related police units has led to the arrest of many suspects although the gangs are stationed overseas, which explains why the cheating has gone unabated. The gangs have continued to cheat people and duped them into wiring millions of baht into the gang members' bank accounts.

The Royal Thai Police (RTP)'s centre for countering electric and online fraud has decided it was time to send its team to countries where the gangs are based and combat the crime with the help of the local authorities.