Three nabbed in Thailand over alleged phishing scam

IMMIGRATION chief Police Lieutenant-General Sompong Chingduang on December 15 announced the arrest of three Chinese nationals who illegally entered Thailand and were allegedly running a phishing operation to acquire personal data and one-time passwords (OTP) from victims and use the passwords to withdraw money from their victims’ bank accounts.

Yong Hua and Yue Dian were arrested at a house in Soi Charoenkrung 91 in Bangkok’s Bangkholaem district on December 12 along with 88 items including mobile phones, computers,

ATM cards and bank passbooks, while Pei Hong was arrested at a house in Lat Phrao district the same day.

“Officials tracked down the gang, which had entered Thailand illegally from Taiwan,” Sompong said. “They had created a fake application mimicking the mobile banking application of Siam Commercial Bank called SCB Easy to siphon millions of baht from several victims’ bank accounts.”

According to the police, the suspects would send an SMS to a victim claiming that the bank’s system was undergoing maintenance and asking them to “update” their personal data by inputting their ID card number, telephone number and OTP that they received from the bank into the fake application.

When the suspects acquired this data, they would use it to withdraw money from the victim’s bank account via the real bank application and then change the money into United States dollars tether, a cryptocurrency.

“If you witness any crimes committed by foreigners in Thailand, please contact immigration police hotline 1178 or www.immigration.go.th,” Sompong added.