Expat scam gang in cuffs after 20-year swindle spree

Authorities, in collaboration with the Australian Federal Police (AFP), have busted a transnational call centre scam which had claimed more than 14,000 Australian victims over the course of two decades.

- WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM

Thirteen foreign nationals — five Australians, six Britons, one Canadian, and one South African — were arrested in connection with the fraudulent scheme, which operated out of a luxury mansion in Samut Prakan.

At a joint press conference held by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday, commissioner Pol Lt Gen Jiraphop Bhuridej, alongside AFP Detective Superintendent Kristie Cressy, detailed the bust.

The suspects were apprehended on June 16 at a 70-million-baht mansion in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan, which had been rented for 120,000 baht per month and converted into a fake investment call centre — or "boiler room".