A 20-year-old woman named Thanaporn has been arrested by Thai police for her role in a call center scam that defrauded a victim of 50,000 baht and involved the suspicious withdrawal of 900,000 baht in cash from a Pattaya bank.
The investigation began after alert bank staff flagged an unusual cash withdrawal. The Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) was notified and traced the account used for the transaction to a mule account connected to a call center gang.
The scam started when fraudsters hacked the Facebook account of the victim’s relative and impersonated the victim’s niece, requesting to borrow 50,000 baht to purchase a phone. The victim, believing the message was genuine, transferred the money. The fraud came to light only when the victim contacted the real niece, who was unaware of the request.
Authorities obtained a warrant and arrested Thanaporn at her residence in Nongprue Sub-district, Banglamung District.
During interrogation, Thanaporn admitted she had sold two bank accounts for 1,000 baht each, which were later used in the scam. She also confessed to withdrawing 900,000 baht in cash from the bank at the direction of a group of three to four individuals, handing over the money to them. In return, she was paid 7,500 baht for her role.
Thanaporn is currently in custody at Samet Police Station. The investigation is ongoing as police work to identify and apprehend the remaining members of the fraud ring.
