A POLICE raid on a call centre den located at two adjoining shops in Pattaya led to the discovery of SIM boxes hidden in the drop ceiling of a room there with scammers now being hunted, Naewna newspaper said this evening (Oct. 27).
At 5 p.m. a team from Provincial Police Region 2, Pattaya City Police and Chonburi Immigration Bureau plus some forensic experts searched the two adjoining shops in Nong Prue subdistrict, Bang Lamung district. Found hidden in the drop ceiling of a room on the fourth floor of one of them were two 32-port SIM boxes.
Additionally, they seized an internet router equipped for SIM cards, a CCTV camera, two signal antennas, and a power strip.
However the tenant had already fled before police arrived.
The raid followed a complaint by Mr. Sathaporn Subin who was scammed with the cybercriminals having called and duped him into believing that they were police officers and had found out that he had been involved in online gambling and money laundering. They then coerced him into transferring money ostensibly for investigation and to “verify his innocence.”
Being hoodwinked, Sathaporn transferred 15,000 baht to the scammers, thus suffering a loss. He subsequently filed an online report via Bang Khen police station last Friday (Oct. 23).
Investigation revealed that the call centre gang had used a SIM box, or GSM Gateway, to mount the scam housing the equipment at this room, available for daily or monthly rent.
While having identified the tenant, police are not disclosing details as doing so could compromise the ongoing investigation. They are tracking him with their goal being to apprehend the whole scam gang and bring them to justice.
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This and Front Page: SIM boxes found in the ceiling of this rented room in Pattaya. Photos – Naewna
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