Thai Officials nab 15 Japanese Nationals in Chonburi in alleged call center scam, no work permits
Just after Midnight this morning, March 30th, 2019, “Big Joke” Surachate Hakparn personally led a raid on a call center of Japanese Nationals in Chonburi located in Siam Royal Village with a search warrant from Pattaya District Court.
The Japanese Nationals had rented a house for 65,000 baht from Mrs. Weena Supawarangkun.
Surachate stated that the Japanese were responsible for a call center scam that caused damages to victims for at least 25 million baht and were highly organized.
All of the Japanese Nationals are on 30-day tourist visas and do not have work permits.
52 IP style work phones, 19 laptops, 19 desktops, and 16 routers were seized as evidence in the alleged scam.
Surachate stated to the press, including The Pattaya News, that the foreign gangs were posing as employees of credible Japanese Companies that provided loans and scamming victims using Thailand as a base for the operation.
Mr. Hakparn stated that there were over 500 victims of the scam before police work between Japan and Thailand helped nail the criminal gang.
The list of Japanese men arrested and facing significant charges is as follows:
1.Mr.Shinkuro Handa 38
2.Me.Keiji Takeda 47
3.Mr.Takahide Takishta 26
4.Mr.Haruki Sagara 25
5.Mr.Koraro Mishiro 29
6.Me.Yoshikatsu Ueda 49
7.Mr.Yutaka Ikeda 45
8.Mr.Jin Kawaguchi 22
9.Mr.Koichi Furuta 24
10.Mr.Atsushi Uemura 40
11.Mr.Yuuki Hirakawa 32
12.Mr.Ryunosuke Inoue 24
13.Me.Yasutaka 55
14.Mr.Ryu Iwamoto 24
15.Mr.Seiji Ikehara 34
The Thai woman who rented the home to them and did not report foreigners living at the address will also face charges.
