Thai cop seek M’sia’s assistance in ‘Macau scam’ investigation

BANGKOK: The Royal Thai Police ( RTP) have turned to their Malaysian counterparts for assistance to track down remnant members of a fraudulent call centre, following the arrest of six Malaysians in Bangkok recently.

This was confirmed by Royal Malaysia Police ( RMP) CID director Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd during his recent working visit to Thailand.

He said the request was made during a meeting with his Thai counterparts.

“The close ties ( between RMP and RTP) have long been established, and covers various areas of cooperation,” he said during a recent interview with Bernama.

Bernama is made to understand that several individuals believed to be linked to the phone scam syndicate and likely to be the ‘ masterminds’ of the scam, are located in Malaysia.

On Jan 4 and 5, Thai police raided

The close ties (between RMP and RTP) have long been established, and covers various areas of cooperation. Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd, Royal Malaysia Police CID director

several hotels in Huai Kwang and Sukhumvit in Bangkok, and detained six Malaysians believed to be members of a call scam syndicate.

Also seized were bank account books, credit cards, automated teller machine (ATM) cards and money withdrawal receipts, mobile SIM cards, mobile phones and Thai and Malaysian currencies.

The investigations found that one of the suspects was gathering all the money collected from victims and transferring it to several bank accounts under the names of Thai and Malaysian citizens, before it was sent out of the country.

According to Thai police, about 1.2 million Baht (approximately RM150,000) had been siphoned out of the country.

Wan Ahmad Najmuddin said the call centre fraud, frequently referred to as ‘Macau Scam’ should be given more focus, following the involvement of Malaysians in the syndicate.

He said not too long ago, call centre fraud scams in Malaysia were often carried out by African nationals or those from China and Taiwan.

“Now, Malaysians are coming (to Thailand) to deceive the people here,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Tourist Police deputy head, Maj Gen Surachet Hakpan, who also heads RTP’s efforts to eradicate the call centre scam in the country, said the Thai authorities would coordinate with their respective counterparts from other countries to nab the remaining members of the syndicate. — Bernama