Police took down two major telecom fraud rings run by Chinese companies in Thailand.

The alleged scam hubs were said to have been responsible for fake calls and SMS messages luring locals into participating in various fraudulent activities and investments.

Police Lieutenant General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, Assistant National Police Chief and Deputy Director of the Police Cyber Taskforce, said in a press conference on November 18 that authorities busted the Chinese call centres in two different operations.

The first call centre gang reportedly used an SIP Server with an SIP Trunk Solution to make a whopping 730,185,892 calls. Most of the numbers they used started with 02 to trick receivers into believing the calls were local, despite being made from neighbouring countries.

Police said they launched an investigation into the high frequency of fake calls. They found that the numbers were registered to three Chinese-owned companies - Huanyun Information Technology, Yun Tian Ke Technology, and Prima Technology.

However, several of the Chinese executives listed as company directors were found to have never entered Thailand. One of them reportedly left Thailand in August last year and never returned.

Police obtained court warrants for three Chinese, one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one Burmese, three Laotian, and 15 Thai individuals said to be directors, expense managers, and holders of money mule accounts.

Ten people - one Myanmar national and nine Thais - have been arrested. Officials were seeking Interpol red notices for the remaining suspects. The detained individuals will be charged with conspiracy to defraud the public, jointly inputting false computer data into computer systems, being members of a secret criminal organisation with illegal purposes, conspiracy to commit money laundering, joint money laundering operations, and operating as money mule account holders.

The Police Cyber Taskforce also collaborated with the Advanced Info Service (AIS) to bust a false base station sending fake SMS messages around Sukhumvit Road which runs through Bangkok and nearby provinces.

The scam texts reportedly read: 'Your 9,268 points are expiring! Redeem now!'. They were traced to a base station allegedly operated by Chinese man Yang, 35, in his car.

Police found the base station connected to an 8,000W mobile power station, a WiFi router, and four phones.

AIS said Yang had been using the station as an SMS transmitter to send nearly one million messages from November 11 to 13, on modified frequences unauthorised by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission.

He was charged with using radio communication equipment without permission, installing a radio communication station without a licence, and using a frequency for radio communication business without permission.

He was handed over to the inquiry officer of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau for further legal actio.

Authorities said they will expand the investigation to find who had hired Yang.

The operations come as Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry planned to launch a platform to suppress call centre gangs.

The project, called 'DE-fence', is set to be launched early next year. It will inform recipients about the risk levels of incoming calls and messages.