Police arrest Malaysian scammer suspect in 1.93m baht fraud

2026-02-15 - 02:56

PATTAYA — Police in Pattaya have arrested a Malaysian national accused of involvement in a cross-border call centre scam that defrauded a 20-year-old man of 1,933,000 baht in cash after arranging a handover in a shopping centre car park. Officers at Pattaya City Police Station said the victim, identified only as Pen Tai, filed a complaint on 11 February 2026 after receiving a phone call from a number claiming to represent an AIS mobile service centre. The caller alleged that the victim’s national ID card details had been used to register a phone number to promote an online gambling website. The suspect then instructed the victim to continue the conversation via the Line messaging application, claiming authorities needed to examine his financial trail. The victim was told to withdraw cash for inspection. Believing the claim, he withdrew 1,933,000 baht and delivered the money to a man in the car park of Big C South Pattaya. CCTV footage from 11 February 2026 showed a suspect wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, a face mask and carrying a black backpack walking in the car park at 14:42. At 14:50, the man approached the rear of the victim’s vehicle, received the cash and returned inside the shopping centre. At 15:01, he exited a restroom wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and no mask before leaving the building. At 15:16, he entered a white Toyota Yaris Cross registered in Bangkok and drove along Sukhumvit Road towards the capital. Police said the vehicle was registered to a man named Noppadol but was being used by his 60-year-old father, Samphan, who works as a ride-hailing driver through a mobile application. The driver told investigators he had transported a passenger from Bangkok to Pattaya and later returned him to a hotel in the Ngamwongwan area of Nonthaburi province. Investigators identified the hotel guest as Yap Chin Keong, a Malaysian national who most recently entered Thailand on 10 February 2026 via Don Mueang International Airport. Police said passport photographs matched the suspect seen in CCTV footage. Officers from Pattaya City Police Station obtained a court warrant and arrested the suspect at a hotel in Nonthaburi on 14 February 2026, in cooperation with officers from Bang Phongphang Police Station. He faces charges including joint fraud by impersonation, joint forgery and use of forged official documents, and jointly importing false information into a computer system. The suspect has been taken into custody for legal proceedings.