PATTAYA, Thailand – An elderly man filed a complaint with the Nongprue Police, reporting that he was scammed by a call centre gang who impersonated state officials, resulting in a loss of over 3.2 million baht.
Thongchai Boonkaw, 74, recounted his ordeal that began on June 12 when he received a phone call from a man claiming to be an official from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). The caller falsely informed Thongchai that he was implicated in a money laundering case involving illegal goods. The imposter then instructed Thongchai to add a LINE contact to discuss the matter further with a supposed police officer.
Following the instructions, Thongchai added the LINE contact and encountered a profile named “Surayut,” featuring a profile picture of a police officer’s business card. The caller, masquerading as a police officer from Kanchanaburi province, elaborated on the fabricated charges and intimidated Thongchai into transferring all his money to an “official account” for inspection. They threatened that failure to comply would result in his bank account being frozen.
Fearing the potential freezing of his account, which contained his life savings from his farming career, Thongchai went to the bank and transferred the money to the account of “Mr. Decha Kaewlamai,” a mule account used by the scammers. He completed two transfers totalling approximately 3.2 million baht.
Realizing he had been scammed several days later, Thongchai consulted with his relatives and proceeded to report the incident to the Nongprue Police Station. Shockingly, while he was filing the report, the call centre gang continued to contact him, attempting to coax him into transferring the remaining money.
Thoroughly shaken and regretful, Thongchai expressed deep sorrow over being deceived, as the lost money represented his entire life’s work. The Nongprue Police are currently investigating the case and working to track down the perpetrators of this cruel scam.
