Police cracks call-centre scam, 15 arrested

Police have arrested 15 foreigners, most of them hailing from Europe, for allegedly running a call-centre scam and duping several people into wiring more than Bt320 million into their accounts.

Of the suspects, six are British, two American, two Romanians, three from the Philippines, one German and one South African national. The suspects were arrested recently at a flat in Sukhumvit Soi 13, where they ran the scam based on bogus stock-market trade. The suspects usually worked from 1pm to midnight - the period most stock exchanges overseas operated.

Police said that most of the victims were Westerners, who were advised by the suspects - posing as independent brokers - that they could make 95 per cent profit from their investment in exchange for a 25-per-cent cut. The suspects had allegedly opened a bank account in Switzerland, which they used to transfer money to Malaysia-based accounts and then on to Thailand.

Meanwhile, police arrested a Liberian national and a Guinea national for duping an American into buying a magic potion for Bt147,000, which could allegedly turn US dollar bills of a lower denomination into $100 bills. The victim notified police after the suspects demanded another Bt1 million in exchange for the key to a safe deposit where the remainder of the potion was kept.