Top Taiwanese call center criminal who conned people in Thailand is extradited from Albania

[webfact]

Picture: Siam Rath

 

Siam Rath reported that Interpol in Albania and officials from the Thai prosecutors' office put a Taiwanese man on a plane bound for Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday.

 

Tzu Yuan Kuo, a Taiwanese national also known as Ayen was deputy chief of a call center gang operating out of Dubai defrauding people in Thailand, Malaysia and Japan.

 

His arrest and deportation to Thailand comes as ever more people are getting calls saying they are mixed up in drugs. The ruse leads to theft of details and money.

 

Kuo was wanted in Thailand since 2018 and had finally been detained by Albanian Interpol in Tirana on September 27th of last year. 

 

He was expected to arrive in Bangkok yesterday afternoon.

 

The media said that the gang had used VOIP randomly selecting phone numbers of victims.

 

They had posed as court officials, postal workers, police, DSI officials, AMLO staff, NCB officials and Bank of Thailand officials. 

 

Victims were convinced that they were mixed up in illegal drug deals and subsequently transferred money to various accounts. 

 

The gang did this by gaining access to names, ID numbers, credit card details and other information. 

 

In most cases this is willingly given by the victims who believe they will get into trouble if they don't comply with the "authorities".

 

ASEAN NOW notes that people in Thailand continue to get calls - some more than once a week - from call center gangs using similar methodology. 

 

Automated messages in Thai sound scary but are completely bogus. 

 

We advise putting the phone down immediately and not complying with any instructions. 

 

But we would like to ask via comments below how many AN members or their partners have received calls recently. 

 

And what you did or didn't do about it. 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2022-07-28

 

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[Phuketshrew]

Crimes like these could not be perpetrated without the culture of corruption and bribery that is endemic in the Thai law "enforcement" and "justice" system.

[StayinThailand2much]

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

They had posed as court officials, postal workers, police, DSI officials, AMLO staff, NCB officials and Bank of Thailand officials. 

 

Victims were convinced that they were mixed up in illegal drug deals and subsequently transferred money to various accounts. 

So, they must have had Thai accomplices to record these messages, who where 'innocently' involved.

 

Still, who gives their credit card details, etc., to a 'recorded message'? 

[StayinThailand2much]

19 minutes ago, Phuketshrew said:

Crimes like these could not be perpetrated without the culture of corruption and bribery that is endemic in the Thai law "enforcement" and "justice" system.

Add to that lack of education and/or  common sense, and you have the recipe for a scam bonanza. 

[LoveDogs]

Both of us at least twice a week.  We press the required number to talk to a sub human.  Then waste as much of their time as possible. 

[mikeymike100]

I have been getting a few scam calls recently. If my girlfriend answers they start asking for information, like name, where are you etc, she hangs up. When I answer the phone in English, they hang up.

I block the number and report it, but still get the occasional one.

[Tubulat]

3 hours ago, LoveDogs said:

Both of us at least twice a week.  We press the required number to talk to a sub human.  Then waste as much of their time as possible. 

I no longer answer  unnamed/unknown phone number anymore.

I make that decision from the moment I got bored by advertising over the phone including AIS by themselves.

[orchidfan]

Got a "+697" call the other day. 

Ignored it. Blocked it, deleted it.

 

Never answer ANY number I don't know or isn't in my Contacts. 

 

Thanks to forum/ report earlier for highlighting this country prefix as a scam call and not to answer. 

[darrendsd]

13 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

Crimes like these could not be perpetrated without the culture of corruption and bribery that is endemic in the Thai law "enforcement" and "justice" system.

You're right that's why phone call scams only happen in Thailand and no other country in the world ????

[hotchilli]

21 hours ago, webfact said:

Victims were convinced that they were mixed up in illegal drug deals and subsequently transferred money to various accounts.

Idiots.

[jacko45k]

You have to wonder if he is glad to be extradited!

[Mr Meeseeks]

9 hours ago, darrendsd said:

You're right that's why phone call scams only happen in Thailand and no other country in the world ????

Thailand has been a hub for these scams since I arrived here 32 years ago.

 

Most of the big expat bars on Sukhumvit in Bangkok were built on boiler room scam money in the 90's and early 00's.

 

Hardly, if any prosecutions happened and when foreign police forces got involved there were arrests and deportations as a show but the operations kept going and those criminals came back unimpeded.

[Johnnyngai]

Don't be shy, talk to them and waste their time.

After 10+ more times, they will learn not to call you.   

 

[transam]

2 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Thailand has been a hub for these scams since I arrived here 32 years ago.

 

Most of the big expat bars on Sukhumvit in Bangkok were built on boiler room scam money in the 90's and early 00's.

 

Hardly, if any prosecutions happened and when foreign police forces got involved there were arrests and deportations as a show but the operations kept going and those criminals came back unimpeded.

I think India has taken over the reins of telephone scams....????

[Confuscious]

This is a week review of calls on my phone.
I never answer these numbers, but they are becoming a real PITA.
Specially as most of these calls are done in the middle of the night.

[Kinnock]

I get about 3 or 4 a week.  Recorded message in Thai about DHL package, customs duty or similar.  

 

I ignore any calls from countries where I don't have customers, but the scammers VOIP system seems to generate random country codes, so I answer UK and US numbers, then hang up and block.

 

I once let it run out of curiosity, when my TGF was worried that the call may be genuine.  It's an impressive routine.

 

You press the number, a person answers and tells you the tale ...... "your DHL package has been stopped by customs at the airport because it contained illegal items".

 

He then offers to connect you to 'the police' to explain that you did not order the items.  He gave us a Line account - which has the Royal Thai Police logo on the account.

 

The 'policeman' waffles on about how much trouble you're in, then asks for a bribe.  By then the TGF agreed with me that it was a scam, and we rang off.

 

But as others have said, the scam is reliant on the victims believing that the police would ask for a bribe - which is why Thailand, India, Pakistan are top of the scammers league.

[realfunster]

On 7/28/2022 at 9:20 AM, Phuketshrew said:

Crimes like these could not be perpetrated without the culture of corruption and bribery that is endemic in the Thai law "enforcement" and "justice" system.

Very true.

Equally true is..

 

“crimes like these could not be perpetrated without the culture of mindless compliance, over respect for “authority/superiors” and lack of critical thinking drummed into the populace from childhood.”

[mania]

On 7/27/2022 at 4:20 PM, Phuketshrew said:

Crimes like these could not be perpetrated without the culture of corruption and bribery that is endemic in the Thai law "enforcement" and "justice" system.

Which is also why someone like this gets extradited & someone like Red Bull Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya  is still free & nearly reaching his get out of jail free in 2026 finish line

 

[BonMot]

On 7/28/2022 at 9:20 AM, Phuketshrew said:

Crimes like these could not be perpetrated without

A lack of proper education and critical thinking.

 

A culture of corruption that makes such phone calls plausible. Mockery of any sort of justice system.

 

It's the perfect scam I must say

[jacko45k]

8 hours ago, Confuscious said:

This is a week review of calls on my phone.

Oh you get the calls from +697, which I thought were Midway or Fiji or something.... can't recall I know anybody in either place.... but I since learned....

In a smart move to combat call centre scams, Thailand's National Broadcasting Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has purposefully added the prefix +697 to IP calls to help people identify potential scammers. Internet Protocol (IP) calls are not registered with the authorities and are untraceable.

[rickudon]

yes, get about 3 calls per week - if unknown number, i do not answer usually (did miss a call from network provider that i was out of credit though!). I did ask one caller to speak English, usually they hang up but this time they said i had an immigration problem and needed to pay 100,000 baht to clear it up! I had been to immigration the day before for 90 day report so knew absolutely this was a scam,,,,,,