Police have arrested an interpreter for the Chinese leader of a phone-scam gang based in Cambodia, after the man had escaped and fled back to Thailand.
The gang lured people into investing in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme and had swindled its victims out of at least 16 million baht so far, police said.
Members of the Police Cyber Taskforce (PCT) arrested Surachai Sae Jang, 27, of Chiang Rai’s Mae Fah Luang district, in tambon Bang Phra of Si Racha district in Chon Buri on Tuesday, Pol Maj GenTeeradej Thumsutee, investigation division chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said on Wednesday.
Mr Surachai is a Thai-Chinese interpreter and a close aide of the Chinese leader of a gang of phone scammers working out of Koh Kong in Cambodia, he said.
Mr Surahai was detained under an arrest warrant issued by Thanyaburi Provincial Court on Aug 13 last year for alleged collusion in committing public fraud, transnational crime and money laundering.
The PCT had investigated the gang for more than a year before taking action. Warrants were out for six members of the gang, including Mr Surachai.
The suspect's job was translating the Chinese gang leader's instructions on scam techniques, and motivation methods, to Thai employees making the calls.
During questioning, Mr Surachai allegedly said he and his young brother Surajit had answered Facebook ads for Thai-Chinese interpreters to work in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville in 2021. They had been offered monthly salaries of 30,000-40,000 baht.
On arriving in Cambodia, they were taken to Koh Kong instead to work as interpreters for the Chinese gang leader, known to his staff as Yu Ge.
Many Thais were employed by Yu Ge, working the phones to persuade people to invest in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. He and his brother would translate the gang leader's instructions into Thai.
Afterworking theire for six months, he managed to escape and fled back to Thailand, Mr Surachai said. He now ran a liquor store in his hometown in Mae Fah Luang district. He was in Si Racha district, Chon Buri, on business when police arrested him.
Pol Maj Gen Teeradej said the scam gang had set up web sites, including surlars-pro.com and biteeb.com, to dupe its victims into investing.
On the gang leader's instructions, he and his brother taught staff how to create accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using false profile photos of good-looking young people to attract Thai victims.
The gang's many victims had lost at least 16 million baht, according to Pol Maj Gen Teeradej.
