Police Rescue Student Trapped in Call Center Ransom Scheme
Metropolitan police rescued a university student who had been confined by a call‑center scam gang that used fake bloodstains to extort money from the family. The gang had tricked the student into transferring 36,000 baht and then demanded up to 300,000 baht for a bogus overseas scholarship. After the parents verified the story with university staff and contacted police, officers located the student at a dormitory in Pathum Wan and freed them while the fraudsters were still on the phone.
According to the investigation, on 16 Oct 2026 the student received a call from someone posing as a mobile‑network operator, who claimed the victim’s ID had been used to open a phone line for fraud and money‑laundering. The caller then transferred the line to a fake police officer who instructed the student to communicate via Telegram in a room called “Investigation Room” and to transfer money to prove innocence. The student sent 36,000 baht, after which the gang ordered them to leave their regular accommodation, rent a daily room in Bangkok, deactivate their usual phone number and activate a new one to prevent family contact, and even obtained the student’s LINE verification code to hijack the account for further scams. When the gang realized the student had no more money, they told the victim to claim a scholarship for overseas study needing 200,000–300,000 baht and to stage a fake attack using coffee mixed with red syrup to resemble blood, hoping to pressure the family into sending more money. The parents grew suspicious, consulted university lecturers who confirmed no such scholarship existed, and then alerted police, leading to the rescue.
