phone scam on BIL succeeds - any advise?

[SunnyinBangrak]

Just heard yesterday my brother-in-law(bIL) has been scammed out of a large sum of money. I believe he answered a phone call in which a fake bank employee persuaded him to transfer 400k baht to the scammer's bank account and then tried for much more(we are not sure if BIL paid the 2nd amount but suspect so). So after realizing he just lost all his money he went to the bank to see what happened, they said too bad but can't help. He went to the police, sorry that's just too bad but we can't help, the scammer will be in a border region and will have gotten some uneducated person to open a dummy bank account for the scammer to use. And that's it!! I find it hard to believe in this day and age electronic money transfers can't be traced? There must be cctv footage from when they opened this bank account? 

 

 Is it really a hopeless case? This is most unfortunate as the victim is niave beyond words and spends his whole life helping people in difficulty at the local temple, we are very concerned about his wellbeing. It would be a huge help if some or all of his money could be returned.

Edited April 11, 2023 by SunnyinBangrak

[marin]

Same thing happened to our housekeeper about 5 months ago. She lost 250,000 basically all her savings. Simply naive she was. It is gone and there is no way to get it back. I feel for her and your BIL. She has moved on. Won't do it again that is for sure.   

[The Fugitive]

Recently a Thai family friend had 950,000 baht transferred from his Thai savings account to a bank account in Cambodia. He insists he did nothing, didn't click upon a hyperlink in a text message (for example). As the transaction was made using his credentials both bank and police say nothing can be done. 

[steven100]

OP...  very sad news indeed.  I seriously doubt there is anything you can do as the scammers will likely be Chinese working from a room in Laos or Cambodia.

[steven100]

9 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Recently a Thai family friend had 950,000 baht transferred from his Thai savings account to a bank account in Cambodia. He insists he did nothing, didn't click upon a hyperlink in a text message (for example). As the transaction was made using his credentials both bank and police say nothing can be done. 

This cannot be done online or at an ATM without his PIN, a cloned atm card, or user name and password ....   otherwise it's impossible.

[Eloquent pilgrim]

Sad story, but why was he willing to transfer that amount just on a phone call request ??

 

Who in their right mind would transfer 400k into an unknown account on a phone call request, it doesn’t sound right somehow.

I have a transaction limit of 100k on my BBL account; if I want to pay for something that is more than that, I go to the bank with bank book and passport and make a transfer request or get a cashier cheque.

 

The cynic in me thinks that maybe the BIL is trying to scam his bank

Edited April 12, 2023 by Eloquent pilgrim

[HampiK]

Even if they check the CCTV, you only will see the naive Thai person on the CCTV who opened the bank account for the scammer.
The scammer would probably never been seen on the footage. 

And even you could see his face, he is probably already outside Thailand again. He only needs a few naive Thais to open Bank accounts for him and that's all. After that when he receives the money, he will transfer the money to his personal account or other places to hide where the money is going at the end.

[CharlieH]

Tell your BIL to watch out now for the "recovery scam" phone acall saying they can recover it with special software tracing for 50,000bt fee. !

[Moonlover]

This is why it is so wise to keep access funds in a passbook only term account. No on line connection, no card, strictly over the counter service only with passbook and ID. 

 

Why people keep their money so readily accessible is beyond my understanding.

[CanadaSam]

You do know that the BIB do not do much of anything without a financial incentive?

 

As he seems comfortable with throwing away his money, perhaps he could offer an "incentive" to the concerned authorities which may get them motivated?

 

Even a quarter of the amount that he lost, may get the "officers" to track the owner of the bank account into which the money was transferred, interogate them for the details of the "people" that actually took possession of the bulk of the funds, after the dimwit (poor illeterate farmer, I'm guessing) got the money, and track down the actual culprits.

 

Failing which, there are certain departments which deal with financial fraud, especially banking fraud, and they may be willing to pursue the matter.

 

I realize that all officers at all departments will have a hearty laugh first at your BIL's stupidity, but it's worth a try.

[The Fugitive]

59 minutes ago, steven100 said:

This cannot be done online or at an ATM without his PIN, a cloned atm card, or user name and password ....   otherwise it's impossible.

Agreed, there has to be a leak somewhere. Last year I received notifications from my UK banks that voice passwords had been set up on my accounts. If it wasn't me call them. This I did and was told someone 'phoned 10 minutes ago. They must have known my username (customer ID number) and passwords to be able to do that.

[steven100]

34 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

This is why it is so wise to keep access funds in a passbook only term account. No on line connection, no card, strictly over the counter service only with passbook and ID. 

 

Why people keep their money so readily accessible is beyond my understanding.

and what .....  travel to the bank in the heat and traffic every time you want 500 baht for beer or food ?

that's ridiculous.

[The Fugitive]

41 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

This is why it is so wise to keep access funds in a passbook only term account. No on line connection, no card, strictly over the counter service only with passbook and ID. 

 

Why people keep their money so readily accessible is beyond my understanding.

I believe I have to keep money instantly available (and accessible) in case of accident or sudden illness. 

[Moonlover]

5 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

I believe I have to keep money instantly available (and accessible) in case of accident or sudden illness. 

Hospitals will not refuse you treatment if you can show that you have funds available. In fact, in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath, they should never refuse you treatment anyway.

[dingdongrb]

6 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Hospitals will not refuse you treatment if you can show that you have funds available. 

I agree....  As I stated in another post I had a stent placed in my right pulmonary artery last year at a government hospital. While laying in the bed at the cardiac ICU ward the doctor who was treating me told me that I needed the stent. She cited a cost for the stent procedure to be around 80k THB and merely asked me if I had the funds to cover that. I said, 'yes'. They did the procedure without needing any verification other than me saying 'yes'. 

 

They had my name and my passport information so I am unsure if they were allowed to find out my bank information and see if I did indeed have the funds available, but I hardly doubt it.

[Moonlover]

6 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

I agree....  As I stated in another post I had a stent placed in my right pulmonary artery last year at a government hospital. While laying in the bed at the cardiac ICU ward the doctor who was treating me told me that I needed the stent. She cited a cost for the stent procedure to be around 80k THB and merely asked me if I had the funds to cover that. I said, 'yes'. They did the procedure without needing any verification other than me saying 'yes'. 

 

They had my name and my passport information so I am unsure if they were allowed to find out my bank information and see if I did indeed have the funds available, but I hardly doubt it.

I hope it all worked out well for you.

 

I've read of a couple of cases on a local forum wherein the hospital came to a stage repayment plan because the patients didn't have the readies available. I think some folks worry too much about this issue.

[SunnyinBangrak]

3 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Tell your BIL to watch out now for the "recovery scam" phone acall saying they can recover it with special software tracing for 50,000bt fee. !

Exactly. Got him a new phone number already. Just beggars belief how he fell for it, and we don't know how much he lost yet. 

 Thanks for the replies guys. Seems he isn't the only one that fell for this. Too bad.

[Kalasin Jo]

2 hours ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

Exactly. Got him a new phone number already. Just beggars belief how he fell for it, and we don't know how much he lost yet. 

 Thanks for the replies guys. Seems he isn't the only one that fell for this. Too bad.

What exactly did he fall for? What reason was he given by the scammer on the phone to make this transfer? And the supposed consequences if he didn't? 

[bradiston]

The scammers are remarkably good at finding a mark, I guess. Some sort of profiling software? Or AI? Not difficult to outsmart even the smartest with that. How do you defend against AI? It's not like a virus. Or phishing, or whatever. Just remember, you never know who or what you're talking to on a phone, chatline, forum etc. Hello? Tap tap. Is this thing working?

 

So if anyone thinks they're stupid for falling for these bxxxxx tricks, no, you're not stupid. Just unlucky your name and number came up on their screens.

Edited April 12, 2023 by bradiston

[DJ54]

Some use scare tactics on top of slinging bs. 

[NanLaew]

7 hours ago, steven100 said:

and what .....  travel to the bank in the heat and traffic every time you want 500 baht for beer or food ?

that's ridiculous.

I'll tell you what's ridiculous. 500 baht for a beer.

[NanLaew]

Mrs NL was just telling me that her brother got a phone call 'from the bank' last week telling him he owed them 20,000 on his truck payments and saying he needed to pay "today"' He was more confused than flustered, said he'd take care of it and told them to call him back later. He checked his bank app and the finance company app and reconfirmed that there were no late payments anywhere; all current. The 'bank' never called him back either.

Edited April 12, 2023 by NanLaew

[PR3]

If it's a Thai bank account there will be an ID attached to that account.

 

This happened to my wife, she got a police report to have the account frozen at the bank; and then the police located the holder of the account.

 

A young lady of college age had created an account in her name for someone else and given them the SIM attached to the account for online transactions, for a small sum.

 

The account holder was the one deemed responsible and my wife got the money back from her family to drop the charges Against the daughter.

 

This was only around 45k and was for an exchange service for foreign currency.

Wife felt terrible as it was a poor farming family. 

 

Perhaps the OP ought to suggest to try the same for his BIL.

[Confuscious]

12 hours ago, Eloquent pilgrim said:

Sad story, but why was he willing to transfer that amount just on a phone call request ??

 

Who in their right mind would transfer 400k into an unknown account on a phone call request, it doesn’t sound right somehow.

I have a transaction limit of 100k on my BBL account; if I want to pay for something that is more than that, I go to the bank with bank book and passport and make a transfer request or get a cashier cheque.

 

The cynic in me thinks that maybe the BIL is trying to scam his bank

Every time I do a transfer with Phone Banking or Quick-scan, I receive a message on my phone to APPROVE the transaction.
Without my approval, nothing is done.
I guess that 99% of these complaints are done by persons with a single, not working, braincell or persons who are trying to scam the bank themselves.

[d4dang]

good article on the BBC news website about the Milton Group scammers who have been phone scamming for years. 

[MrJ2U]

17 hours ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

spends his whole life helping people in difficulty at the local temple,

Seems like he's being inundated with scams.

 

Sorry to hear about the losses. 

[SunnyinBangrak]

14 hours ago, Kalasin Jo said:

What exactly did he fall for? What reason was he given by the scammer on the phone to make this transfer? And the supposed consequences if he didn't? 

Sorry I can't understand the full details of how it happened. He is embarrassed and emotional it's difficult to work out exactly what happened. Best I can understand is "customs" phoned his mobile and said they caught him sending too many boxes to Burma without declaring(he never sent any single box of anything anywhere) and that he must pay a fine, they then started supposedly transferring him to different "departments" such as police, the bank and even the government where the demands and consequences of not paying were increased. Not sure what the threat was. I suspect he was worried his position as a respected village elder would be threatened and wanted this issue to go away. Then after he started paying...

 

As for those having trouble understanding how somebody could be so stupid, remember the family are rural folk in a very remote area earning livings from agriculture and fisheries. They are just not living in the same world that educated tech and scam savvy westerners are. He only got his first phone recently.

 Will update the tread with the full story if I ever learn it completely.

[Liverpool Lou]

On 4/12/2023 at 8:05 AM, Eloquent pilgrim said:

Sad story, but why was he willing to transfer that amount just on a phone call request ??

 

Who in their right mind would transfer 400k into an unknown account on a phone call request, it doesn’t sound right somehow.

It's the scammers art, they give a good story, that's all it takes for someone, who may not be as sophisticated as AN members, to fall for it.

[Eloquent pilgrim]

6 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

It's the scammers art, they give a good story, that's all it takes for someone, who may not be as sophisticated as AN members, to fall for it.

I accept that there are some good scammers operating, but this is not an example of one; nobody that has the nous and acumen required to accumulate more than 400k Baht in their account, would give it away on a phone call instruction.

 

It is an absolute fortune to what the OP is now claiming are a poor rural, uneducated family. How did he make the transfer while talking on the phone ? Using a laptop to access his account ?

 

You’ve been here long enough to know the security palaver involved in making such a large transfer in Thailand.

 

There is only one scammer here, and it is the brother-in-law, who is either trying to scam his own bank with an accomplice, or extract a large sympathy payment from the OP.

[josephbloggs]

On 4/12/2023 at 8:43 AM, Moonlover said:

This is why it is so wise to keep access funds in a passbook only term account. No on line connection, no card, strictly over the counter service only with passbook and ID. 

 

Why people keep their money so readily accessible is beyond my understanding.

Believe it or not some people don't have time to travel to the bank with a passbook and passport every time they want to withdraw money, pay a bill, do any kind of transaction. What a weird way to live.