Bangkok: 20 people have been arrested for the crime of embezzling 3 billion baht (24 billion Pakistani rupees) from elderly Americans in the United States, out of which 5 are Indians and 15 are local citizens of Thailand.
Bangkok Post Thai police said 20 people, including five Indian nationals and 15 Thai nationals, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a telephone fraud network.
According to the details, the accused have caused more than 3 billion baht loss to elderly Americans. The arrests were made during police raids in four provinces – Chon Buri, Ryong, Roi Et and Surat Thani.
Police said that an Indian man and three Thai women were detained in Chon Buri after which the accused provided details of 16 more accused. Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Torsak Squimol said all five were Indian men and 11 of the 15 Thais detained were women.
He said that a list of 162 bank accounts, 61 mobile phones, two cars, a pistol, land documents and other assets have been seized from the accused.
It should be noted that the investigation against the suspects was ongoing since last year, when the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Secret Service agents informed the Thai police that Indian cybercriminals and Thai citizens had targeted elderly people in the US. A network of telephone fraud is set up to trick people into transferring money to their accounts.
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