A Chinese call centre gang was arrested at a luxury pool villa in northern Thailand.

The alleged fraudsters reportedly scammed their fellow citizens of more than 100 million CNY (10.2 million GBP) as they operated from the rented property in tourist hotspot Chiang Mai.

They reportedly targetted victims aged 60 and over, deceiving them through schemes such as fake products, sham job recruitment postings, and romance scams.

Armed cops converged on the hub base located in an upscale housing estate on Tuesday, July 1.

They arrested 14 Chinese and three Burmese nationals, and seized 10 computers and 26 mobile phones from the property.

Police Lieutenant General Krittaphon Yisakhon, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 5, who led the raid, said the villa had been identified as a suspected base for the alleged scammers.

He said : 'We found that the group had moved their base here from the Maejo area in San Sai district. They rent this house for 50,000 baht (1,100 GBP) a month.

‘There was a boss and employees working systematically with designated roles in the scamming process. They would earn 3,000 CNY (305 GBP) monthly, excluding commission fees.

‘The Chinese suspects had either tourist or student visas, and there were those with expired tourist visas or those applying for student visas.

‘We will charge them for conspiracy to defraud the public and participation in organised crime. We have contacted the Chinese consulate to collect them for legal proceedings because there is a clear list of victims.'

The officer added that Chinese scam networks were proliferating in Thailand, often renting out luxury homes to deceive locals that they were wealthy tourists. The fraud rings reportedly took advantage of legal loopholes to obtain student visas and extend their stay in the country.

Immigration officials said they were increasing inspections as more than 13,000 Chinese nationals were applying for student visas in the province.