Thai Authorities Arrest Group Using an 8KW Generator in a Van to Send Malicious SMS

Authorities in Thailand have arrested alleged members of two Chinese scammer gangs believed to be involved in SMS scams, including some sent using custom-built fake SMS transmitters installed in the back of a van. 

We all get scams or phishing SMS messages, and we often wonder how they get the victims’ numbers. In most situations, they either have phone numbers collected from data breaches or scraped from online sources, or they might even send them in blind. 

However, there are other ways, much more direct, that can involve building the necessary infrastructure to send SMS messages, which includes hardware installed in a van roaming the streets. 

According to a report from Khaosod, “officers discovered unusual usage patterns of telephone numbers being used to deceive many citizens, specifically numbers beginning with 02-xxxxxxxx.

Investigation revealed that these 02 numbers were used by call center gangs to trick people into participating in various activities and investments.” 

The attackers controlled three legal entities that used 11,201 phone numbers to place a total of 730,185,892 calls. 

But the second part of the operation was a lot more unconventional, as the attackers built a custom rig, placed it in a van, and roamed the streets of Bangkok, sending SMS messages with various scams.

 “They arrested a 35-year-old Chinese man named Yang, finding in his car an operating base station simulator connected to an 8,000W mobile power station, one WiFi router, and four mobile phones,” the Khaosod publication notes.

The operation in the van was so prolific that the criminals managed to send 1 million messages in just three days.

The authorities have arrested 10 people in connection with all of these infractions: nine Thai nationals and a Myanmar national. They are still looking for other Chinese nationals involved in the scams.