3 Swedes, 4 Norwegians Arrested In Call Centre Gang Crackdown

[khaowong1]

7 foreigners arrested as they where scamming your friends and relatives surely could be breaking news?

If nothing else, events like these can affect us all, even lead to 'clampdowns'...

No, No, No, please, not another "clampdown".. when will it ever end.

[moskito]

Why - the CALL CENTER - clbs.co.th/jobs/index.php - ONLY take women ? What do they THAI do with the western women in Chiang Mai ??? Do they f__k them ?

LOL, I try to find that out for years (: They have advertisements all over the internet and in some newspapers in Thailand too. HOW THE fuc_k DO THEY MAKE MONEY ?

hehe, the funny thing is if you criticise them, they place an add in TV Forum as well and mission accomplished, nobody is after ever allowed to ask anything

whats that

Edited February 23, 2011 by moskito

[Sailfish1]

Why don't these scumbags do their dirty work in their own country? It is time to start cleaning up Pattaya - get rid of gangsters, pedophiles, sex exploiters, drug dealers, scammers etc. and make Pattaya a true resort paradise. Think about how great a place Pattaya can be without crime.

[Tropicalevo]

Looks a solid case to me. An internet cafe with 18 computers and one printer. Farangs using skype or other Ip telephony programs that must be a smoking gun, but than again, why arresting everybody in the internet cafe and charging them with working without a work permit? If they had any proof they would have laid embezzlement charges. I put my cards on a disgruntled police general who did not got its pay off.

I am not 100% sure here, but it is my understanding that it is NOT against the law in Thailand if you scam people in another country! That is why there are so many Boiler Rooms!

I think that the embezzlement charge only works here if it happens here. These guys are embezzling on the internet from another country. A technicality I know but...........

[DumFarang]

Looks a solid case to me. An internet cafe with 18 computers and one printer. Farangs using skype or other Ip telephony programs that must be a smoking gun, but than again, why arresting everybody in the internet cafe and charging them with working without a work permit? If they had any proof they would have laid embezzlement charges. I put my cards on a disgruntled police general who did not got its pay off.

I am not 100% sure here, but it is my understanding that it is NOT against the law in Thailand if you scam people in another country! That is why there are so many Boiler Rooms!

I think that the embezzlement charge only works here if it happens here. These guys are embezzling on the internet from another country. A technicality I know but...........

Sooooo...what are the police charging them with if it's not illegal to scam from one country to another?

I know it's work permits at the moment, but, come on, they don't bust a place wide open on suspicion of work permit infractions. It can only be one, or both, of two things: the authorities are cracking down on the illegality of the operation, and/or they're dropping the hammer over tea money not getting paid (or something money related along said lines).

I reckon it's both. It is illegal, but it was ignored as long as somebody got their money. Maybe more people put their hands out, maybe the one person/s got greedy and simply asked for more. Who knows? Maybe these guys even tried to do it without paying tea money and got caught. Ouch, that would suck.

[nimrod74741]

look at these smug A holes, I'd love to mangle them, I hope karma comes back to them in a BIG way

[Arkady]

Why - the CALL CENTER - clbs.co.th/jobs/index.php - ONLY take women ? What do they THAI do with the western women in Chiang Mai ??? Do they f__k them ?

LOL, I try to find that out for years (: They have advertisements all over the internet and in some newspapers in Thailand too. HOW THE fuc_k DO THEY MAKE MONEY ?

hehe, the funny thing is if you criticise them, they place an add in TV Forum as well and mission accomplished, nobody is after ever allowed to ask anything

whats that

I am not in Chiang Mai and have never come across this one before but it looks highly suspicious with its "teams of Thai, English, French, German and Italian customer care specialists caring for customers in all parts of the world." This care apparently includes demanding tasks like "internet searches on specific topics" LOL. I wonder how they manage to get work permits for all these multinational teams of high tech googlers or why anyone would pay them to do an internet search.

[opebo]

Sweet photo, dubious charges..

[Phatcharanan]

why arresting everybody in the internet cafe and charging them with working without a work permit? If they had any proof they would have laid embezzlement charges.

Oh dear.

Did you actually READ the info on the post?

Embezzelment takes a lot of work before a case is built. The WP thing will suffice as a holding charge for now. Same as holding charges are used in Europe..........whilst other investigations are carried out.

Go get some rest. You've probably had a long day.

[onnut]

These "Callcenters" work like normal callcenters in Europe. Its just a little bit cheaper to have them here in Thailand. As far as I know people start working 2 o clock noon, and finish 10 in the evening, saturday and sunday AND public hollidays off. They get around 40K Baht a month, so easy work and easy money. Some of them have work permits, some of them dont. The Callcenter saves a lot of money for a shop the same size in Germany or somewhere esle in Europe and for the staff as well.

Do u really belive when you call a service center for a bank or whatever in England, somewhere in England they will answer the call? Its India where the call centers are located. Welcome to the 21st (:

People in Bangalore or Angeles City speaking with phony accents and giving you inaccurate information on behalf of a bank or airline are one thing but these people were stealing money from their marks pretending to be an employment agency or provide some telemarketing product. If Thailand allows these crimes to take place from its territory because it can't or won't control its corrupt police, then the Thai government is complicit in the theft.

you hit the nail on the head. as long as some bib have open pockets for some teamoney out of these kind of businesses who is to blame? Thailand becomes more and more Land of Scammers with knowledge of the Authorities......never happend when Thaksin is still here (:

Yes it did happen when Taksin was here!

[Chupup]

Why don't these scumbags do their dirty work in their own country? It is time to start cleaning up Pattaya - get rid of gangsters, pedophiles, sex exploiters, drug dealers, scammers etc. and make Pattaya a true resort paradise. Think about how great a place Pattaya can be without crime.

Yeh right :cheesy:

[diehard60]

Please let them spend time in the immigrations holding-cells too...

Well Now I am for sure. Pattaya is the new home of the worlds Mafia. Just like Chicago USED to be and may be still is in a way. Hahahahhahaha. Pattaya is not the nice tourist attaction place that Thailand would like it to be. It is the slum of Thailand.

[Darkman]

So the Vikings are still out there raping and pillaging people around the world, just this time they use the internet instead of longships.

[TAWP]

As for the constant flow of farang being busted for this that and the other thing, is it any wonder that visas and permits and cooperation in general is being reduced all the time? Considering the ratio of farang here to the number of news stories coming out with regard to busts, "we" really are a dispicable bunch, know what I mean? No one here is an island and maybe it's time for us to police our own a little bit before they ruin it for us all....................

You are kinda right. I mean, just look at the difference in the clientele that visits Immigrations and those that visit the BOI One Stop Visa center. On is filled with people in shirt, long pants, proper cuts, papers in order, other is filled with shorts, flip-flops, t-shirts and screams over how everyone is evil towards them when they fail to have the proper papers...

[moskito]

People in Bangalore or Angeles City speaking with phony accents and giving you inaccurate information on behalf of a bank or airline are one thing but these people were stealing money from their marks pretending to be an employment agency or provide some telemarketing product. If Thailand allows these crimes to take place from its territory because it can't or won't control its corrupt police, then the Thai government is complicit in the theft.

you hit the nail on the head. as long as some bib have open pockets for some teamoney out of these kind of businesses who is to blame? Thailand becomes more and more Land of Scammers with knowledge of the Authorities......never happend when Thaksin is still here (:

Yes it did happen when Taksin was here!

Some things did happend when Taksim was Primeminister but many things changed, specially in this direction of foreign scams or DRUGS btw. There was a Taksin policy, No DRUGS in Phuket after 6 month. I know that some ppl here running around because it was difficult to buy even Ganja at this times. Thesedays there are Bars where they sell Cocain and whatever directly. The thing with the cokeheads is they all talk. Funny thing is the police is obviously aware of the places and hanging around there sometimes too......thats what I heard, no proof at all

When Thaipolice finally becomes a bit more clever and make their money on the streets checking driving licences, vehicles without brakes or lights or speeding bikes, drunk drivers etc etc, then, maybe then things will change and police corruption becomes a bit lower in Thailand.

Another thing is this Thailanguage shool or Thaiboxingshool Scam to get a one year Visa. Do you think something like this would possible with Thaksin? Who are the people making money out of that?

[DumFarang]

People in Bangalore or Angeles City speaking with phony accents and giving you inaccurate information on behalf of a bank or airline are one thing but these people were stealing money from their marks pretending to be an employment agency or provide some telemarketing product. If Thailand allows these crimes to take place from its territory because it can't or won't control its corrupt police, then the Thai government is complicit in the theft.

you hit the nail on the head. as long as some bib have open pockets for some teamoney out of these kind of businesses who is to blame? Thailand becomes more and more Land of Scammers with knowledge of the Authorities......never happend when Thaksin is still here (:

Yes it did happen when Taksin was here!

Some things did happend when Taksim was Primeminister but many things changed, specially in this direction of foreign scams or DRUGS btw. There was a Taksin policy, No DRUGS in Phuket after 6 month. I know that some ppl here running around because it was difficult to buy even Ganja at this times. Thesedays there are Bars where they sell Cocain and whatever directly. The thing with the cokeheads is they all talk. Funny thing is the police is obviously aware of the places and hanging around there sometimes too......thats what I heard, no proof at all

When Thaipolice finally becomes a bit more clever and make their money on the streets checking driving licences, vehicles without brakes or lights or speeding bikes, drunk drivers etc etc, then, maybe then things will change and police corruption becomes a bit lower in Thailand.

Another thing is this Thailanguage shool or Thaiboxingshool Scam to get a one year Visa. Do you think something like this would possible with Thaksin? Who are the people making money out of that?

It's so funny. Overall corruption was down under Thaksin, yet he pulled the big one that puts the rest to shame. I'm sure there are those that say parties interested in bringing him down fabricated his alleged tax evasion, etc. etc. Now he's a citizen of where, Montenegro? What a mess.

[Arkady]

I think the debate about Thaksin is rather ridiculous in the context of foreign scams. Thaksin, as an ex-cop himself, cultivated the police as an important power base. He empowered the police and encouraged them to be even more above the law than they were before by pushing them to perform extra-judicial killings galore. I am not sure how letting the police, who openly profit from foreign scams, do whatever they feel like could be construed as clamping down on foreign scams. During his watch the foreign boiler rooms in Bangkok got out of control but the Thaksin government consistently rejected demands from the Australian and New Zealand governments to arrest suspects they had evidence on for securities frauds. In the end they fined and deported a trivial number of the small fry for WP offences but let the controllers continue in business under new company names. One boiler room operator was murdered after he had taken most of the scamster staff away from his partner and started a new boiler room. There was a strong enough murder case against the partner, a US citizen, to have him extradited from the US to face a death penalty charge in Thailand, something the US courts don't do lightly. However, back in Thailand the case melted away and he was mysteriously acquitted. All that under Thaksin's watch. The bottom line is that under Thaksin foreign scams were very well known about by the authorities and were considered an innocent past time that Thai policemen could be allowed to profit from because they don't inconvenience any Thais. This is no different from the attitude under Abhisit, Somchai, Samak, Sarayud, Chuan, Chavalit, Banharn, Chatichai or the attitudes of the Nigerian and South African governments to "Nigerian letter" frauds perpetrated from their countries.

Edited February 24, 2011 by Arkady

[DumFarang]

I think the debate about Thaksin is rather ridiculous in the context of foreign scams. Thaksin, as an ex-cop himself, cultivated the police as an important power base. He empowered the police and encouraged them to be even more above the law than they were before by pushing them to perform extra-judicial killings galore. I am not sure how letting the police, who openly profit from foreign scams, do whatever they feel like could be construed as clamping down on foreign scams. During his watch the foreign boiler rooms in Bangkok got out of control but the Thaksin government consistently rejected demands from the Australian and New Zealand governments to arrest suspects they had evidence on for securities frauds. In the end they fined and deported a trivial number of the small fry for WP offences but let the controllers continue in business under new company names. One boiler room operator was murdered after he had taken most of the scamster staff away from his partner and started a new boiler room. There was a strong enough murder case against the partner, a US citizen, to have him extradited from the US to face a death penalty charge in Thailand, something the US courts don't do lightly. However, back in Thailand the case melted away and he was mysteriously acquitted. All that under Thaksin's watch. The bottom line is that under Thaksin foreign scams were very well known about by the authorities and were considered an innocent past time that Thai policemen could be allowed to profit from because they don't inconvenience any Thais. This is no different from the attitude under Abhisit, Somchai, Samak, Sarayud, Chuan, Chavalit, Banharn, Chatichai etc, etc.

Good points all.

The overall problem is an indifference towards the basic ethics of right and wrong, isn't it?

Maybe such ethics are a luxury wealthy nations get to spray on like cheap perfume, and in the real world getting ahead is neither top, middle, nor bottom line; but simply the only line. I often times wonder if I just can't put myself in their mindset that has been forged from birth.

[Macmundi]

They don't need a work permit to 'scam'. Scamming is not a legitimate form of 'work'. Otherwise they would have got caught since work permit application...

[DumFarang]

They don't need a work permit to 'scam'. Scamming is not a legitimate form of 'work'. Otherwise they would have got caught since work permit application...

Not so sure about that one. Yes, a work permit is not required to scam, but I don't think "scam artist" appears on the business application. If they paid the money, the lawyer would smile and give a work permit for any excuse I imagine. As long as they don't state, "we're thieves," I think they would have few problems.

[Bagwan]

I don't get it. How do these scams still work?

A) If you are offered a job you don't pay to work. Work pays you plus expenses (if any). Questions?

Are there still people left in the world who don't hang up on telemarketers? My step-dad is now old, I mean oooooold, and he sits there and plays with them for a while like they might have a customer, and then hangs up on them making sure they hear him laugh before the call ends. Is he just a super experienced elderly person or what?

Well of course these a-holes deserve whatever the worst is the judge can give them, but, it's true, they don't look worried. Have to wonder if they'll just pay whatever is asked, relocate, rename, and get back to business as usual.

These "Callcenters" work like normal callcenters in Europe. Its just a little bit cheaper to have them here in Thailand. As far as I know people start working 2 o clock noon, and finish 10 in the evening, saturday and sunday AND public hollidays off. They get around 40K Baht a month, so easy work and easy money. Some of them have work permits, some of them dont. The Callcenter saves a lot of money for a shop the same size in Germany or somewhere esle in Europe and for the staff as well.

Do u really belive when you call a service center for a bank or whatever in England, somewhere in England they will answer the call? Its India where the call centers are located. Welcome to the 21st (:

In which case my UK bank has exported a lot of Scottish lassies to the back of beyond.

I just love it when they tell me that there is snow a foot deep outside their place of work and I tell them I'm sitting in my skivvies drinking a cold one.

[Oberkommando]

Interesting charge, working without a work permit. But one that brings a maximum jail term of 5 years and/or a fine of 100,000 baht with it.

Some years back a boiler room was busted in a sting between Australian Police and Thai Police. The perps were fined 2,000 Baht each and escorted to the airport. I would love to see these guys taken down to the full extent of the fine and imprisonment. I know friends - some very old - who lost their life savings to these scam artists.

Many Bangkok based businesses are owned by former boiler room scammers, funded with money from the scams, including many well known pubs on Sukhumvit and Silom.

[Bagwan]

They don't need a work permit to 'scam'. Scamming is not a legitimate form of 'work'.  Otherwise they would have got caught since work permit application...

Surely scamming should be an occupation reserved for Thais.  Is this a Government oversight?

[Thai at Heart]

They don't need a work permit to 'scam'. Scamming is not a legitimate form of 'work'.  Otherwise they would have got caught since work permit application...

Surely scamming should be an occupation reserved for Thais.  Is this a Government oversight?

Well, facilitation payments have to made to allow the foreigners to act as nominees.

[ableguy]

commong sense: never buy anything over the phone, right... anyway, if you do ont sign any paper, what does a sale over the phone makes it legit ?

Too late bro if you have paid the money.

[dananderson]

why arresting everybody in the internet cafe and charging them with working without a work permit? If they had any proof they would have laid embezzlement charges.

Oh dear.

Did you actually READ the info on the post?

Embezzelment takes a lot of work before a case is built. The WP thing will suffice as a holding charge for now. Same as holding charges are used in Europe..........whilst other investigations are carried out.

Go get some rest. You've probably had a long day.

That's the way i interpet this arrest. A lot of victims to be interviewed abroad before more charges are filed. More than likely they will be shipped back to face those that they were alleged to have bilked.

[oldsailor35]

could some of you criminal types please try somewhere besides Pattaya?

Why should they when its so BIB friendly

[CraXeliCroX®]

Interesting charge, working without a work permit. But one that brings a maximum jail term of 5 years and/or a fine of 100,000 baht with it.

I guess 300,000 baht will fix the problem and these Noblemen will be free again.....

I didn't know that its required to have a work permit to scam people! How to apply for such a permit??

[TAWP]

I didn't know that its required to have a work permit to scam people! How to apply for such a permit??

Actually, yes, it is needed -- and many jobs are pure scams even if the job-description says something else. Clergymen, homeopaths and acupuncture peddlers, politicians and so on...