A 19-year-old university student was stopped from sending more money to a call-centre gang that had already taken more than 800,000 baht from her parents, the Anti-Online Scam Center (ACSC) said.
Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, assistant national police chief, said the case involved a 19-year-old woman at a major Bangkok university. Her parents contacted police after she was allegedly deceived by a call-centre gang and was preparing to transfer more money. ACSC officials were sent to her accommodation in the Phaya Thai area.
The student was found distressed and crying. She had been told she had received a scholarship to study abroad, then that she was implicated in a criminal case. The scammers transferred her call to someone posing as a police officer, who threatened her and ordered her to keep the matter secret and transfer money to prove her innocence.
Fearing arrest, she fabricated a story to obtain money from her parents and handed more than 800,000 baht to the scammers. She was preparing to ask them for another 1 million baht when police stepped in. Officials later arranged for her family to take her home and advised them to preserve evidence and file a police complaint.
On Monday Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop released ACSC figures for Aug 30 to Sept 5: 5,863 cases reported through the Thaipoliceonline system, with losses exceeding 241 million baht. Cases rose by 84 on the previous week while losses fell by more than 19 million baht. Online shopping and service scams of all types accounted for 4,349 cases, or 74.2% of complaints.
Impersonation scams caused the highest losses, more than 69 million baht. People aged 21-30 remained the highest-risk group. The ACSC and banks froze 18 transfers, preventing more than 1.2 million baht from reaching scam accounts.