Chinese men caught with 347,200 SIMs in alleged online fraud
By Chatchawan Sopapan
The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- A Chinese gang has been using Thailand as a base to falsely inflate the number of “likes” and page views for online advertisements, police have said.

 

“Product owners will be misled. Such activities are a threat to the overall economy,” Sa Kaew immigration chief Acting Pol Colonel Benjapon Rodsawas said yesterday. 

 

He made the remarks after three Chinese men were arrested in Sa Kaew province on Sunday. 

 

The three suspects confessed that they earned Bt100,000 for using the WeChat app to generate Internet traffic that could have misled vendors of Chinese products, he said. Available evidence suggested the men targeted Chinese advertisements only, and Thai brands were unaffected. 

 

“Their employers, ad agencies, received payments based on the number of ‘likes’ and views,” Benjapon said. 

 

The three suspects were identified as Wang Dong, 33, Niu Bang, 25, and Ni Wenjin, 32, all of whom were charged with working without a permit and possessing smuggled phones. Officials planned to bring them to court on Tuesday to ask for permission to detain them further.

 

They told Thai authorities that their accomplices had worked from another location but also in Sa Kaew province. 

 

No one was at the location but police found a huge number of SIM cards. 

 

“There must be over 100,000 SIM cards. There was equipment similar to what we found during Sunday’s arrest. But there are no phones and no suspects,” Benjapon said. 

 

Locals said two Chinese men had rented the place but left suddenly on Sunday night.

 

Authorities said the suspects had not named their employer but said they had been supplied with 474 cell phones and 347,200 SIM cards for their operation. 

 

“We will investigate further how they could acquire such a huge number of SIM cards, which require registration,” Benjapon said. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30317906

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-13

thats a hell of a lot of SIM chsnging, thry must have had cramp in their fingers

With the proliferations of the internet commerce and online merchandizing

brings out the crocks swindlers and cheaters that leeches  of it like flies on

steaming pile of shit, what can be done about it? not much, this part and

parcel of life....

how did they make the money just through fake hits?

10 minutes ago, stament said:

how did they make the money just through fake hits?

Ask those Chinese companies listed on NYSE...

If you know anything about this business you know its been going on for years. A facebook like x 1000 will uplift a a website in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) The higher up that page you are the more clicks you get on your website. its a nightmare if you are in the business as customers want clicks.

 

Facebook is for sharing pics of food and photo's of those who seek famedom and idiots who have too much time on their hands. (Hey look at me I look so beautiful to day and yes I have seen that comment so many times). hate people like that don't you.

 

Google and Search Engines like that need to get a life and stop making web company's use idiots like the above to please your tiny google minds.

had not named their employers? I can think of ways that might change their mind

52 minutes ago, stament said:

how did they make the money just through fake hits?

they post negative things against one company, they post positive reviews and good hits against another company.  I have no idea how much they get paid.  Overall company ratings drop 10 %, number of bad or positive posts per day, etc

One hopes that they didn't pretend to be youthful new posters on a certain website close-to-home ?

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Locals said two Chinese men had rented the place but left suddenly on Sunday night.

How many times a week do we read the police always arrive too late!  Crooks over here must be clairvoyant.

6 hours ago, webfact said:

“We will investigate further how they could acquire such a huge number of SIM cards, which require registration,” Benjapon said. 

Uhhunh! 

investigation requires independence and registration requires a government authority, something tells me the two wont go together well; and the loser will be, ... wait for it...: investigation

give it a round of applause for the well-meant effort.