Two Chinese nationals arrested in mobile phone scam

Police from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau on Thursday arrested two Chinese men at an apartment in Soi Nuanchan 60, Bangkok’s Bueng Kum district and seized equipment used to send fake SMS signals from a car to scam mobile phone users.

The arrest was a collaboration with telecom operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) to crack down on online scammers, Pol Lt General Trirong Phiwphan, bureau chief, said.

He said AIS alerted the police that the suspects have been driving a car around shopping malls and communities in Bangkok to illegally send SMS signals to mobile phones in the radius, masquerading as an official message from AIS.

The message will urge receivers to click on the included link, which will install malicious applications to siphon personal information from the phones, Trirong said.

Upon receiving a tip-off, police and AIS engineers used a tracking device to locate the suspects’ vehicle in the Ramintra, Sukhumvit and Thonburi areas, until they detected a Honda CRV from which  the signal was sent.

Officials followed the vehicle to the apartment in Soi Nuanchan 60 and arrested Li, 49, and Zhu, 47 (last names withheld), of Chinese nationality, said Trirong.

Police found what is known as a “false base station” in the car, which is used to illegally broadcast signals and fake the identity of the sender as the telecom operator. In the suspects’ apartment, officials also found 11 mobile phones, bank passbooks, ATM cards, and over 30 SIM cards.

Waroonthep Watcharaporn, Head of Business Relations at AIS, urged phone users not to click on suspicious links and refrain from sharing personal details such as ID card numbers, credit card numbers, date of birth, or OTP codes with any persons.

AIS customers who suspect they were scammed, should contact AIS Spam Report Centre at 1185, and the company will forward the information to authorities for investigation, he said.