Blacklist aims to curb Chinese gangs

Officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) and

 Immigration Police are turning their attention to Chinese gangs

operating in this country.

These gang members tend to enter the kingdom as tourists but

 overstay their visas while operating call centre scams and

 credit card and passport fraud from rented condominiums

or houses.

Police have been alerted to at least three such illegal operations

in the past year. In response, any tourists caught overstaying

will soon face being blacklisted, effectively banning them

 from re-enteringThailand for a certain period of time.

 CSD deputy chief Pol Col Phanthana Nutchanat pointed to the

 arrest of members of a credit card and passport fraud gang on

 Jan 1 as a case in point.

Police last year busted this gang that had set up a call centre

 in Don Muang district, from where they allegedly swindled

victims in China out of 225 million baht.

 (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

The gang had five members, four males -- Zu Jian, 42,

 Cui Yuanchang, 31, Tan Guoping, 40, and Liu Shijin, 42

-- and one female, Zhu Chupoing, 53. Police estimated their

 activities had caused financial damage worth some 3 million

baht. Up to 182 fake credit cards, card readers and equipment

 used to make credit cards were among items seized by the

 officers during the operation.

 This type of crime is growing as the number of Chinese people

 using credit cards has increased over the past three years,

Pol Col Phanthana said.

Previously, Europeans and Malaysians were the usual suspects,

and it is believed they taught some Chinese people how to make

 fake credit cards so they could tap into the growing Chinese

 market, he said.

 

These people hack online accounts and steal details from

credit card transaction records at shops in China.

 They then enter the information into fake cards which are used

to buy high-value items in Thailand

such as gold, said Pongsit Chaichutpornsuk, Siam Commercial

 Bank's executive vice-president for cyber crime prevention.

 The gang also makes fake passports which are used together

 with the fake credit cards to purchase valuables in Thailand.

Another case that came up on the police's radar was more

 sophisticated -- the call centre scam.

Twenty-seven Chinese and Taiwanese nationals allegedly

 colluded to lure victims in China into transferring money to them.

The plots varied from pretending to be bank officials checking

 credit information to tax officials offering rebates.

They conned victims into either sending money in the form of

 "admin fees" or supplying their bank details.

 Police arrested 20 men and seven women at a house in

Prachaniwet housing estate in Chatuchak district on Dec 24.

As with the fake credit card gang, these suspects chose Thailand
 as their new criminal base following tougher crackdowns by
Chinese police. Their call centre scam caused damages valued
at more than 100 million baht, according to police estimates.

 Pol Col Phanthana said these criminal suspects are crafty as they

 manage to evade the police both here and in their own country

 and, at the same time, go to great lengths to make their operations

 appear legitimate.

 "These [call centre] suspects have developed their skills to a

 high level. They have been trained to speak convincingly and

 memorise banking jargon," he said. Also, they do not always

 need many collaborators in their secret plots. Only a few

 persons can swindle millions of baht from victims.

Another case that hit media headlines followed the arrest of

 Jiang Sulian and He Ying, both 30, on Sept 9.

The pair disguised themselves as visitors at a jewellery fair at

 Impact Arena in Muang Thong Thani, Nonthaburi.

They asked for a closer look at a 10-million-baht diamond

 and returned a fake one to a sales representative.

Ms Jiang had swallowed the real diamond, which was later

retrieved by doctors.

This crime prompted stepped up efforts to monitor tourists

 from the southern Chinese province of Hunan, as many jewel

thieves are believed to come from this region, Pol Col

 Phanthana said.

In addition to these three major crimes, there have also been

 reported cases of Chinese people using fake identity cards to

 pretend they are Thais so they can work and carry out monetary transactions.

One way to prevent these crimes from recurring is to act against

 tourists who overstay their visas, Immigration Bureau chief

Pol Lt Gen Natthon Phrosunthon said.

Pol Lt Gen Natthon said the Interior Minister will issue a law,

which will take effect on March 20, that will blacklist violators

 and ban them from entering Thailand for between one

and 10 years, depending on how long they have overstayed.

Contact  Crime Track: crimetrack@bangkokpost.co.th ">crimetrack@bangkokpost.co.th

News,General,Bangkok Post,11 January 2016.

 

As this crime has happened  and damage the image of our country

as the easy criminal source so the authorities involve should

cooperate and take severe legal action to them to stop the crime.

 

Sincerely Yours