BANGKOK, Aug 26 (TNA) – Thai police have arrested an alleged
leader of a Japanese gang operating a call center to deceive their compatriots.
Thirty-year-old Jinnai Yamato was apprehended at a hotel in
Bangkok’s Bangrak district on Saturday, Immigration Bureau Chief Pol Lt General
Sompong Chingduang told a press briefing on Sunday.
Yamato’s gang is accused of swindling over 89 million yen
from Japanese people. Fifteen members of
his gang were arrested on March 29 at a luxury house near Pattya, Chonburi
province, where they used to run the call center scam.
Pol Lt General Sompong said that members of the Japanese
call center pretended to be debt collectors of a firm in Japan and used
falsified court warrants to lure the victims to wire money.
During the raid at the rented house, the police seized many
communication devices, including 52 IP phones, 19 notebook computers and 37
routers.
Yamato was wanted by Japanese authorities after preying on
more than 500 Japanese people, the Immigration Bureau chief said. He added that
the Japanese man would be prosecuted for violating the Thai immigration law
before being extradited to face charges in his home country.
The other 15 suspects aged 24 to 55, who had been arrested
earlier, have been charged with running a business on temporary stay visas
without permission. (TNA)
