The suspects are likely to be sent back to China and Taiwan for trial
China 'fake fines' gang members arrested across Asia
BBC News
A Chinese suspect covers his face from the camera inside a detention room at the main immigration office in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, June 10, 2011 The suspects are likely to be sent back to China and Taiwan for trial
Hundreds of Chinese and Taiwanese citizens have been arrested in countries throughout Asia over a scam involving fake fines.
Police say the suspects contacted people in China and Taiwan and extorted money from them by claiming they had been issued with court summonses.
Some 170 suspects were held in Indonesia, and 166 more were arrested in Cambodia.
There were also arrests in Thailand and the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu.
Senior Malaysian police official Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said the gang would call their victims - most of whom were in China - and route calls through the internet to make it appear as if they were local.
"They would pose as a court officer and contact their victims claiming that one of their family members had been charged in court for an offence," he said.
"They would then provide a false number and when the victims call the number, they would be asked to pay a certain fee via a bank account in order to cancel the summonses."
The callers would also pretend that their victims owed traffic fines, according to a report in Malaysia's New Straits Times newspaper.
Thai police said the gang was also involved in scams where they would pose as bank staff.
Officials say thousands of people in China may have been taken in by the scammers.
Cambodian police chief Kirt Chantharith said the suspects would be sent back to China after being questioned.
"In principle, we will repatriate them back to face trial under Chinese law, but we don't know when we will do that because the investigation is still ongoing," he told the Phnom Penh Post.
Chinese officials have yet to comment on the case.
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Mass arrests across Asia over phone scam network
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Hundreds of Chinese and Taiwanese nationals have been arrested across Asia in an international operation targeting telephone scam artists, officials in several countries said Friday.
Most of the arrests were in Indonesia and Cambodia where 177 and 166 people respectively were held in a cross-border crackdown on criminals using Internet phone services to trick thousands of victims across the region out of money.
In Malaysia, police on Borneo island arrested 27 Chinese and 10 Taiwanese nationals for allegedly duping people into paying fake traffic fines, the official news agency Bernama and New Straits Times daily reported.
And Thai police said they had arrested four suspects, one Taiwanese woman and three Thai nationals, in raids on seven locations in Bangkok based on information provided by Taiwanese police.
They said a representative of the Taiwanese police was present during the arrests.
The massive police operation appeared to be a co-ordinated response to tip-offs from authorities in China and Taiwan, though neither country confirmed or denied their involvement when contacted by AFP.
Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau said it was still verifying the reported arrests while China's ministry of public security said it had no immediate comment.
Jakarta's police chief Sutarman said 76 Chinese and 101 Taiwanese nationals had been arrested in 15 different locations in the Indonesian capital "following requests by Chinese and Taiwanese police".
He said the suspects would rent houses with broadband access and make phone calls over the Internet "to many victims in China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam in which they posed as an official to extort money".
Cambodia's Interior Ministry said in a statement on Friday the "crackdown on cross-border extortion" happened "in collaboration with the ministry of public security of the People's Republic of China".
The nationwide raids in Cambodia, which also saw one Vietnamese woman taken into custody, followed numerous victim complaints, a police spokesman said, adding that the suspects had "many tricks" to extort funds.
Details of the scams are sketchy and appeared to have varied in different countries.
The group in Malaysia is accused of calling individuals in China and telling them they had been issued a traffic summons, asking them to pay money into an online account to settle the fine or face court action.
Police said they believed thousands of people were taken in.
The element of surprise was key for the scam artists, said police in Thailand, who found 43 ATM cards, more than 20 mobile phones and bank account details in their raids.
"This team's task was to find Thai bank account numbers and send them to another team in China where Thai people will call victims and ask the victim to transfer money to a Thai bank account," said Police Colonel Phanthana Nutchanart.
"The two main tricks are to surprise the victim, for instance by telling them they have won the lottery, or to frighten them by saying their bank account or credit card was suspended," he said.
BBC News
A Chinese suspect covers his face from the camera inside a detention room at the main immigration office in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, June 10, 2011 The suspects are likely to be sent back to China and Taiwan for trial
Hundreds of Chinese and Taiwanese citizens have been arrested in countries throughout Asia over a scam involving fake fines.
Police say the suspects contacted people in China and Taiwan and extorted money from them by claiming they had been issued with court summonses.
Some 170 suspects were held in Indonesia, and 166 more were arrested in Cambodia.
There were also arrests in Thailand and the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu.
Senior Malaysian police official Syed Ismail Syed Azizan said the gang would call their victims - most of whom were in China - and route calls through the internet to make it appear as if they were local.
"They would pose as a court officer and contact their victims claiming that one of their family members had been charged in court for an offence," he said.
"They would then provide a false number and when the victims call the number, they would be asked to pay a certain fee via a bank account in order to cancel the summonses."
The callers would also pretend that their victims owed traffic fines, according to a report in Malaysia's New Straits Times newspaper.
Thai police said the gang was also involved in scams where they would pose as bank staff.
Officials say thousands of people in China may have been taken in by the scammers.
Cambodian police chief Kirt Chantharith said the suspects would be sent back to China after being questioned.
"In principle, we will repatriate them back to face trial under Chinese law, but we don't know when we will do that because the investigation is still ongoing," he told the Phnom Penh Post.
Chinese officials have yet to comment on the case.
-------------------------------
Mass arrests across Asia over phone scam network
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Hundreds of Chinese and Taiwanese nationals have been arrested across Asia in an international operation targeting telephone scam artists, officials in several countries said Friday.
Most of the arrests were in Indonesia and Cambodia where 177 and 166 people respectively were held in a cross-border crackdown on criminals using Internet phone services to trick thousands of victims across the region out of money.
In Malaysia, police on Borneo island arrested 27 Chinese and 10 Taiwanese nationals for allegedly duping people into paying fake traffic fines, the official news agency Bernama and New Straits Times daily reported.
And Thai police said they had arrested four suspects, one Taiwanese woman and three Thai nationals, in raids on seven locations in Bangkok based on information provided by Taiwanese police.
They said a representative of the Taiwanese police was present during the arrests.
The massive police operation appeared to be a co-ordinated response to tip-offs from authorities in China and Taiwan, though neither country confirmed or denied their involvement when contacted by AFP.
Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau said it was still verifying the reported arrests while China's ministry of public security said it had no immediate comment.
Jakarta's police chief Sutarman said 76 Chinese and 101 Taiwanese nationals had been arrested in 15 different locations in the Indonesian capital "following requests by Chinese and Taiwanese police".
He said the suspects would rent houses with broadband access and make phone calls over the Internet "to many victims in China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam in which they posed as an official to extort money".
Cambodia's Interior Ministry said in a statement on Friday the "crackdown on cross-border extortion" happened "in collaboration with the ministry of public security of the People's Republic of China".
The nationwide raids in Cambodia, which also saw one Vietnamese woman taken into custody, followed numerous victim complaints, a police spokesman said, adding that the suspects had "many tricks" to extort funds.
Details of the scams are sketchy and appeared to have varied in different countries.
The group in Malaysia is accused of calling individuals in China and telling them they had been issued a traffic summons, asking them to pay money into an online account to settle the fine or face court action.
Police said they believed thousands of people were taken in.
The element of surprise was key for the scam artists, said police in Thailand, who found 43 ATM cards, more than 20 mobile phones and bank account details in their raids.
"This team's task was to find Thai bank account numbers and send them to another team in China where Thai people will call victims and ask the victim to transfer money to a Thai bank account," said Police Colonel Phanthana Nutchanart.
"The two main tricks are to surprise the victim, for instance by telling them they have won the lottery, or to frighten them by saying their bank account or credit card was suspended," he said.
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