Thailand police have busted a massive fraud forex investment racket that led to the arrest of 20 Chinese nationals and four Thais, according to a report on Friday by local news outlet Chiang Rai Times. The arrests were made in northern Thailand’s province of Chaing Rai.
The local police detailed that the arrested Thais lived in the area, whereas the involved Chinese entered the country illegally. Chaing Rai and Chaing Mai are also the bases of many Chinese criminal gangs due to the provinces’ popularity among tourists and their proximity to the China border.
An Organized Operation
The alleged perpetrators ran a romance and forex investment scam from an office behind the hotel from where they were arrested.
They created fake online dating and LINE, a popular chat app in Thailand, profiles by using fake photos collected from the internet. They first developed a relationship with the Thais and foreigners, mostly Japanese, and then lured them for forex investment on a fake Metatrader application.
The platform displayed fake forex rates, and after the victims make their deposits, they were disconnected by the fraudsters, the police detailed.
The suspects received 25,000-35,000 baht a month for their forex scam, which they ran all around the week. It was an organized operation as the scammers worked from 9 am to 9 pm on weekdays and from noon to 5 pm on weekends.
Among the arrested were 20 men and two women. The Thai police also confiscated 224 mobile phones, ten notebook computers, ten monitors, and ten desktop computers.
The arrested suspects are also facing charges under the computer crimes act, along with the charges of public fraud.
The use of dating tactics to lure victims toward investment scams is not new. Several regulators, including Belgium’s FSMA, issued multiple warnings against fraudsters using fake profiles on dating platforms.
Thailand police have busted a massive fraud forex investment racket that led to the arrest of 20 Chinese nationals and four Thais, according to a report on Friday by local news outlet Chiang Rai Times. The arrests were made in northern Thailand’s province of Chaing Rai.
The local police detailed that the arrested Thais lived in the area, whereas the involved Chinese entered the country illegally. Chaing Rai and Chaing Mai are also the bases of many Chinese criminal gangs due to the provinces’ popularity among tourists and their proximity to the China border.
An Organized Operation
The alleged perpetrators ran a romance and forex investment scam from an office behind the hotel from where they were arrested.
They created fake online dating and LINE, a popular chat app in Thailand, profiles by using fake photos collected from the internet. They first developed a relationship with the Thais and foreigners, mostly Japanese, and then lured them for forex investment on a fake Metatrader application.
The platform displayed fake forex rates, and after the victims make their deposits, they were disconnected by the fraudsters, the police detailed.
The suspects received 25,000-35,000 baht a month for their forex scam, which they ran all around the week. It was an organized operation as the scammers worked from 9 am to 9 pm on weekdays and from noon to 5 pm on weekends.
Among the arrested were 20 men and two women. The Thai police also confiscated 224 mobile phones, ten notebook computers, ten monitors, and ten desktop computers.
The arrested suspects are also facing charges under the computer crimes act, along with the charges of public fraud.
The use of dating tactics to lure victims toward investment scams is not new. Several regulators, including Belgium’s FSMA, issued multiple warnings against fraudsters using fake profiles on dating platforms.
