Japanese Yakuza Running Call Centre Scams from Thailand

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Sun Dec 18, 2022 7:41 am

Cops probing yakuza links in Thailand after Japanese call centre gang busted
WEDNESDAY, December 14, 2022

Police are probing possible yakuza criminal operations in Thailand after charging five Japanese nationals with operating a call centre scam in Bangkok.

The five men have been charged on seven counts including imprisoning a victim, said Kannayao police chief Colonel Naren Kruengsanook.

The case has been under the media spotlight since Sunday, when police and Japanese Embassy officials raided a residence in Bangkok's Bang Khen district.

The raid was launched after a Japanese man managed to escape from the residence and alert his embassy.

The alleged victim said he travelled to Thailand on December 8 after the gang offered him a job in Bangkok.

Police arrested Kawabata Kotaro, Hirota Junya, Naramura Kenji, Tomonari Satoshi and Suzuki Takafumi and initially charged them with imprisoning a fellow Japanese national. Six more charges followed, namely international criminal activity, human trafficking, threats, imprisonment, racketeering, confiscating a person’s documents, and failing to notify authorities about relocation of residence.

Col Naren said Kotaro, 39, has tattoos consistent with membership of a Japanese yakuza criminal network. Police are now investigating whether he is connected to other international crime activities in Thailand.

Naren said the Bang Khen gang operated by calling mostly elderly victims in Japan, pretending to be hospital staff and offering discounts for treatment in exchange for their bank account details. Then, another gang member called the victim pretending to be a bank official and asked for the account’s PIN because “banking abnormalities” had been detected.
https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand ... l/40023066

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Sun Dec 18, 2022 7:46 am

A South Korean-run call centre was also busted by Thai police earlier this month in Chiang Mai:
5 South Koreans arrested for telephone fraud in Chiang Mai
THURSDAY, December 08, 2022

Five South Koreans were arrested in Chiang Mai for operating call centres used to scam people in their home country, deputy national police chief Gen Roy Inkapairoj told a press conference on Thursday.

Immigration Bureau and the Police Cyber Task Force searched two houses and two condominiums rented by the suspects and found they were being used as call centres to scam people, Roy said.

The suspects range in age from 21 to 44 and had previously operated a similar operation in China, before setting up shop in Chiang Mai, he said.
https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand ... l/40022889

Ghostwriter · Post by **Ghostwriter** » Sun Dec 18, 2022 5:54 pm

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: ↑Sun Dec 18, 2022 7:41 am the Bang Khen gang operated by calling mostly elderly victims in Japan, pretending to be hospital staff and offering discounts for treatment in exchange for their bank account details. Then, another gang member called the victim pretending to be a bank official and asked for the account’s PIN because “banking abnormalities” had been detected.

Wow, such a low bar to scam your own elderlies about health, i thought yakuza had a bit of respect for older folks from their culture, or at least trace amounts of dignity.
Seems no after all.

yong · Post by **yong** » Wed Dec 21, 2022 10:52 pm

OMG OMG OMG

Thailand is such a bad bad place for good foreigners like me. I'm getting out of here. I ain't risking my life selling some screws in this place.