AFP senior officer Kristie-Lee Cressy mentioned on the Bangkok press convention that at the least 14,000 Australians had fallen sufferer to this rip-off.
“The group amassed at the least 1.9 million in (Australian {dollars}) from Australian victims in simply the brief time it had been working. Cash that we are saying was stolen from hard-working Australians and never invested as promised,” she mentioned.
“Shutting down this rip-off centre is a big win for the communities of Thailand and Australia.”
The Australian authorities consider the 2 leaders of the group had been working scams for a few years and working in a number of international locations, together with Indonesia, the place that they had escaped arrest earlier than being present in Thailand, Jirabhob mentioned.
The group of males arrested in Thailand on Monday included six British, 5 Australians, one Canadian and one South African, officers mentioned. They mentioned the suspects denied all wrongdoing, saying that they believed they have been working legally for a official funding firm.
Immigration officers mentioned they entered Thailand with completely different sorts of visas, together with for retirement and training.
Jirabhob mentioned they have been initially charged with racketeering and dealing in Thailand with no allow. He mentioned additional investigation may result in extra critical prices, together with fraud and involvement in a transnational organised crime.
Australian police officer Cressy mentioned Australia suffered an estimated injury of A$4.45 billion (US$2.91 billion) from on-line scams previously 4 years.
A United Nations report in April mentioned transnational organised crime teams in East Asia and Southeast Asia are spreading their profitable rip-off operations throughout the globe in response to elevated crackdowns by the authorities.
