“Currently, there is a group of criminals who have set up a Line OpenChat group to recruit members into the group named ‘Group donates funds for charity to create income’ and allows people to donate money to receive commissions and compete for prizes by falsely claiming the account name ‘Thai Red Cross Society’ to receive donations,” the Thai Red Cross said in its warning.
“The Thai Red Cross Society would like to inform you that it has no policy to accept donations in this manner. Therefore, we would like to warn people to be careful and never be fooled!!!” the warning added.
“If you would like to donate money to the Thai Red Cross Society. Must be an account in the name of the organisation ‘Thai Red Cross Income Procurement Office’ only. If the account is in the name of a person, Mr. Mrs. Miss is a scammer and the Thai Red Cross Society has no involvement at all,” the national charity said.
“If you see any such abnormalities You can report information to Revenue Generation Office, Thai Red Cross Society, Tel. 0 2256 4440-3,” the warning concluded.
Meanwhile, PEA Phuket on Tuesday issued a warning of a scam operation targetting people on the island.
“Most recently today (Oct. 17, 2023), someone was injured from transferring money to an impersonator,” PEA Phuket said in a post on its official Facebook page.
The impersonator claimed to be an official of the Provincial Electricity Authority and said the PEA wanted to install power backup equipment and check the quality of electricity use in the victim’s area.
The victim explained to officers at PEA Phuket that the call centre gang had called the victim’s office and asked for the victim’s phone number. Pretending to be an official of the PEA, the victim was then invited to talk via the Line application.
The victim sent information and documents, and was finally tricked into transferring money. After that, no action was taken. Later, the victim checked with the PEA, and discovered the scam.
“At present, documents and evidence have been prepared to file a complaint [with police],” PEA Phuket.
Screenshots were provided by the victim to substantiate the report.
“The Provincial Electricity Authority has no policy to for people to transfer money or for any transactions where it is required to enter the employee account number,” PEA Phuket reported.
“For more information, please contact call center 1129 or at Electricity Authority offices nationwide,” the warning concluded.
Meanwhile, Phuket Info Center yesterday posted a photo of an alleged scammer who impersonated being a police officer stationed at Phuket City Police Station (‘Mueang Phuket Police Station’).
The scam was reminiscent of a scheme last year that saw a Phuket expat of 36 years being duped out of thousands of baht after he was threatened with 10 years in jail for receiving illicit funds.
PR Phuket yesterday shared a warning against online scammers issued by the Comptroller General’s Department, under the Ministry of Finance.
“Don’t be fooled by scammers pretending to be executives from the Comptroller General’s Department,” said the warning.
Special warning was given if people were contacted by “officers” who call or send an SMS to proceed with further communication.
Other warnings included the claims by fake ‘officers’ to update payroll or asking people to download various applications, or if they asked to be added as friends through the Line app or asked people to click on links sent.
“Never give out personal information,” warning strongly emphasised.
“The Comptroller General’s Department has no policy to call government officials, pensioners, or the public or send any SMS to take any action whatsoever,” the warning noted.
People who believed they had been scammed by fake Comptroller General’s Department officials were asked to call 02-2706400.