A YOUNG doctor of engineering asked for help from Sai Mai Tong Rod (Sai Mai District Must Survive) community Facebook page after being tricked to transfer 8,465,084 baht to call centre scammers who talked to him over the phone for seven days and nights, Naewna newspaper quoted Thai Rath News Show as saying today (May 1).
One of the comments to this post says: “Oh even an engineering doctor is a victim #will ordinary people escape..??”
The victim said on Apr. 5 he received a call from a scammer pretending to be a Department of Special Investigation police officer who told him to link up on Line app and turn the camera on to send documents as they wanted to check his financial background.
He was shocked because the scammer in disguise threatened to not only freeze his assets but also that of his family unless he complied.
This call continued for seven days and nights without hanging up during which the victim transferred money 11 times from five accounts in four banks. All the cash went to a Thai national.
What is even more shocking is that scammers convinced him to fly to Hat Yai to cash 2 million baht savings bonds and transfer it to them. The scammers were online throughout the trip only switching off after he boarded the airplane, but he had to report everything that occurred during the flight.
The victim said he had only returned to Thailand a year ago after living abroad for eight to nine years and did not know about these scammers.
Mr. Ekkapop Luengprasert, an adviser to the Interior Minister and founder of Sai Mai Tong Rod page, said this is a warning to the general public to be careful while urging the government to crack down hard on these scammers.
He has contacted the Technology Crime Investigation Division, or Cyber Police, to track down these criminals.
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A graphic image of the victim and sums of money being transferred to scammers. Credit: Lawyer Narong Pradubsuk, Lawyer Ken, Thai Rath News Show
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