The Royal Thai Police (RTP) cautioned the common public to be additional vigilant ahead of the Songkran Festival after scammers final week fraudulently stole over 310 million baht in on-line extortion. The RTP reported over 5,300 fraud circumstances had been reported by victims last week, with most complaints associated to online purchasing and bank transfer scams.
Yesterday, Pol. Lt. Gen. Sompong Chingduang, who serves as a particular advisor to the RTP, said that the reported losses incurred by the victims earlier than Songkran totalled 312.5 million baht, reported Bangkok Post. Of the 5,269 crimes reported, 2,600 had been online buying scams that resulted in losses of 34 million baht. Meanwhile, 719 instances pertained to job posting scams that led to 61.1 million baht in losses.
Furthermore, 539 cases have been mortgage scams, which triggered 22.7 million baht in losses, while 286 have been online funding scams that resulted in 72.7 million baht in losses. In Approved , 276 cases had been name centre scams that resulted in forty seven.9 million baht in losses.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Sompong famous that there has been a rising number of online shopping scams in which merchandise associated to the Songkran Festival, such as flower-patterned shirts and water guns, are provided for sale, but the buyers don’t receive the merchandise after cost.
Ponzi schemes are one other widespread crime. Scammers usually create phoney social media accounts utilizing profile footage of famous people to increase credibility and attract victims to take a position their cash by promising excessive returns. Pol. Lt. Gen. Sompong said…
“The Royal Thai Police would like to warn in opposition to investing with unverified events and buying merchandise from unverified sellers.”
Aside from on-line scams, the RTP is urging revellers to concentrate to frequent pickpocket thieves through the Thai New Year.
Pickpocketing is also a common rip-off during Songkran Festival, so be positive to hold your valuables close to you when in a crowded space..