Photos: Central Investigation Bureau Facebook page
Central Investigation Bureau police have rescued a Chinese woman from a Chinese-run call centre scam gang, which had allegedly cheated her out of about Bt8 million and were demanding another Bt12.5 million in ransom from her parents in China.
The scam was disclosed today by Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, commissioner of the CIB.
Officers from CIB’s Crime Suppression Division were alerted by the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok on September 16, asking them to track down Song Xi-hua, after her mother, Li Jianshe, who lives in China, sought help from the embassy when she received the ransom demand.
On August 21, Li Jianshe received a We Chat message from her daughter, saying she was being held captive in Thailand and if she wants her daughter freed, she must send them 2.5 million yuan, or about Bt12.5 million, in ransom.
The gang also sent Li Jianshe a clip, featuring her daughter holding a passport and saying, in Chinese, that she was working in Thailand and was not being forced to send this footage.
An investigation was immediately launched by the CIB, who checked the CCTV system at Suvarnabhumi airport and discovered that Song Xi-hua had arrived in Thailand from Germany on August 15. She was seen leaving the airport in a taxi.
Further investigations discovered that the 42-year-old Chinese woman was staying at a hostel in Soi Kingkaew, in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan.
The owner of the hostel reportedly told the police that the Chinese woman rarely left her room and then led police to the room where she was found.
Initially, the woman claimed that she was fine and knew nothing about ransom.
Police met with her parents, who had flown into Bangkok from China to seek help from the Chinese Embassy, and took them to see their daughter.
She then agreed to tell the truth about how she fell victim to the Chinese call centre gang, while she was working in Germany, and was lured to Thailand.
She told the CIB officers that on April 11, while in Germany, she received a call from a man, who claimed to be a Chinese police officer, informing her that she was wanted in China on charges of human trafficking.
If she wanted the charges to be dropped, she must transfer money to their account. The woman claimed she had sent 207,000 euros, or about Bt8 million, to the gang.
Subsequently, the gang told her that she must travel to Thailand to meet with a man who could help her to settle the case.
The woman also said that, after arriving at the hostel on August 15, the gang forced her to set up Skype and video call functions, so she could be under constant watch by the gang.
She was also told not to communicate with anybody in the hostel, adding that she had changed her lodgings eight times during her 40 days in captivity.
