Thai police arrest 13 foreigners in an alleged $1.2M investment scam targeting Australians

BANGKOK -- BANGKOK (AP) — Thai constabulary said Tuesday implicit a twelve foreigners, mostly Australians and British, were arrested for allegedly moving an online concern fraud that had duped radical retired of astatine slightest 1.9 cardinal Australian dollars (about $1.2 million).

Police raided Monday a rental location successful the state of Samut Prakan, neighboring Bangkok, and arrested 13 people, said Jirabhob Bhuridej, main of the police’s Central Investigation Bureau, astatine a property league successful the Thai capital.

Jirabhob said the Australian Federal Police (AFP) informed Thai authorities past twelvemonth of a scam radical led by an Australian and a British, and a associated probe was launched.

The alleged scammers operated retired of Thailand to swindle wealth from victims successful Australia and perchance different English-speaking countries done online advertisements and telephone calls to put successful semipermanent bonds with a committedness of precocious returns, Jirabhob said.

Footage showed the men aft being arrested successful the rental location that was converted into an office. Papers of alleged scam scripts and workflow were taped to their partitioned desks. There were besides whiteboards the constabulary said were utilized for tracking their progress, and clocks connected a partition showing clip zones crossed Australia.

Thai constabulary said they staked retired the location for respective months and saw the men coming and going astatine times that coincided with moving hours successful Australia. They said they confiscated a fig of phones, computers and different physics devices allegedly utilized for the scam.

AFP elder serviceman Kristie-Lee Cressy said astatine the Bangkok property league that astatine slightest 14,000 Australians had fallen unfortunate to this scam.

“The radical amassed astatine slightest 1.9 cardinal successful (Australian dollars) from Australian victims successful conscionable the abbreviated clip it had been operating. Money that we accidental was stolen from hard-working Australians and not invested arsenic promised,” she said. “Shutting down this scam halfway is simply a important triumph for the communities of Thailand and Australia.”

Australian authorities judge the 2 leaders of the radical had been moving scams for galore years and operating successful respective countries, including Indonesia, wherever they had escaped apprehension earlier being recovered successful Thailand, Jirabhob said.

The radical of men arrested successful Thailand connected Monday includes six British, 5 Australians, 1 Canadian and 1 South African, officials said. They said the suspects denied each wrongdoing, saying that they believed they were moving legally for a morganatic concern company.

Immigration officials said they entered Thailand with antithetic kinds of visas, including for status and education.

Jirabhob said they were initially charged with racketeering and moving successful Thailand without a permit. He said further probe could pb to much superior charges, including fraud and engagement successful a transnational organized crime.

Australian constabulary serviceman Cressy said Australia suffered an estimated harm of 4.45 cardinal Australian dollars ($2.9 billion) from online scams successful the past 4 years.

A U.N. study successful April said transnational organized transgression groups successful East and Southeast Asia are spreading their lucrative scam operations crossed the globe successful effect to accrued crackdowns by authorities.