Bangkok:Police have successfully rescued a second-year university student who was scammed out of more than 400,000 baht by fraudsters pretending to be police officers. The scammers had also broken into her room after she refused to open the door for them, suspecting they were impostors.
According to Thai News Agency, Pol. Col. Sakya Saengwan, Deputy Commander of Metropolitan Police Division 1, along with officers from Din Daeng and Huai Khwang police stations, intervened to help Ms. Han, a 19-year-old student from Buriram province. She had been targeted by a network of scammers who falsely accused her of involvement in an online gambling case. The perpetrators impersonated police officers via a video call, convincing her to transfer over 400,000 baht. The police managed to prevent further losses by stopping the scam in time.
The incident unfolded when officers went to Ms. Han's apartment, where she was found on a continuous video call with the scammers. She initially refused to open the door, prompting the police to force entry. Upon entering, they explained the scam to her and instructed her to file an official police report at Din Daeng police station.
Ms. Han recounted that the scam began with a phone call from someone impersonating a mobile network provider, claiming her number was linked to online gambling activities. She was then misled into contacting a fake police officer on Line for a video call, where she was falsely accused of money laundering and coerced into transferring money. The scammers further manipulated her to deceive her parents into sending money under the guise of a scholarship collateral for studies in South Korea. Suspicious bank notifications prompted her parents to alert the authorities, leading to police intervention. CCTV footage captured a suspect, a tall man in a blue polo and slacks, taking 250,000 baht in cash from Ms. Han before escaping in a car.