Pattaya, Chonburi
Scammers who pretended to be the police, allegedly to fleece people who had already been scammed
By Genext Information Systems Staff
Published 16 October 2026 • 5 min read
The latest Pattaya news from the fraud beat has an ugly twist: a gang accused of preying on people who had already lost money to scammers. Police in Chonburi raided a suspected call centre in Pattaya Thailand this week and arrested three people who allegedly pretended to be cybercrime officers, offering to recover victims’ stolen funds for a price.
The raid, announced on 14 October 2026, is the kind of Thailand news that matters well beyond the resort city. The victims were contacted by phone across the country, and the suspects reportedly learned their trade at a scam compound across the border in Cambodia.
How police raided the Pattaya scam office
According to The Pattaya News, the operation was led by Pol. Maj. Gen. Kiettisak Srathongoil, commander of the Investigation Division of Provincial Police Region 2, working with Investigation Subdivision 1 and officers from Pattaya City Police Station. They swept into a suspected call centre office in Pattaya and detained three suspects.
Their names, ages and nationalities have not been released. Police have also not said exactly when the raid took place, only that the arrests were made and announced in the middle of this week.
Officers say the group contacted people across Thailand by mobile phone. Their pitch was simple and cruel: claim to be from the police cybercrime units, tell people that their stolen money could be traced and returned, and then steer them into handing over more.
The recovery scam and its QR codes
Recovery scams work because the target is already desperate. Someone who has been tricked once is willing to believe that an official can fix the damage, and the fraudsters know it. Here, police say the suspects sent victims QR codes to scan, and investigators are now examining what those codes did and whether they led to unauthorised transactions.
Nobody has yet been charged with a specific offence in published reports. Police said they will keep gathering evidence and tracing money through the bank accounts before moving ahead with the legal process, and they have not announced how many victims there are or how much was lost.
That caution is sensible. Until the transaction trail is mapped, the three remain suspects and are presumed innocent.
At a glance
- Where — suspected call centre office, Pattaya, Chonburi
- Announced — 14 October 2026
- Arrested — three suspects, identities not released
- Alleged ploy — posing as cybercrime police to “recover” lost money
- Seized — 1 laptop, 5 phones, SIM cards, 3 notebooks, 2 bank passbooks
- Led by — Provincial Police Region 2 Investigation Division
What officers carried out of the Pattaya office
The seizure list reads like a small business’s inventory. Police took one laptop, five mobile phones, a batch of SIM cards with related paperwork, three notebooks containing recorded information, two bank passbooks and a backpack.
The notebooks and passbooks will probably matter most. Phones and laptops show who was called, but handwritten records and bank books show who paid, how much, and where the money went next. Investigators will want to know whether other people sat above the three arrested.
From a Cambodian scam centre back to Pattaya
Police say the suspects worked for about a year at a call centre scam operation in Cambodia before returning to Thailand. Whether they then set up on their own in Pattaya, or worked for someone else, is part of what officers are trying to establish.
The pattern is familiar to Thai investigators. People trained in organised call-centre fraud abroad come home with scripts, contacts and an understanding of how to pressure victims, and sometimes restart the same business from a rented room. Pattaya, with its large transient population and plenty of short-let offices and condos, is an easy place to hide one.
For readers following Thai news, this is another reminder that scam crackdowns do not end at the border. They continue in every province where returning workers can find a quiet office and a stack of SIM cards.
Things to do in Pattaya, and how to avoid phone scams
If you are reading a Thailand travel guide before a trip, add one rule to your list: no genuine police unit will ask you to scan a QR code or move money to get your funds back. Hang up, then call the Tourist Police on 1155 or visit a station in person. Residents who are living in Thailand should treat unsolicited calls about visas, parcels or bank problems with the same suspicion. Our guide to Thailand visa and immigration rules explains which agencies really handle those matters.
None of this should spoil a visit. Popular things to do in Pattaya include island hopping to the Thailand islands off Bali Hai Pier, the Sanctuary of Truth, night markets and plenty of Thai food. Budget travel Thailand fans can stretch a baht further here than in the capital, and Bangkok is under two hours away for anyone adding things to do in Bangkok or a Bangkok food crawl. The best time to visit Thailand for cooler weather starts around November, with Thai festivals such as Loy Krathong close behind. Our Pattaya guide collects the essentials, and last week’s condo cocaine arrest shows how busy local police have been.
What happens next in this Pattaya Thailand case
Detectives will now trace the bank accounts, examine the QR codes and interview victims, and prosecutors will decide the charges once the evidence is assembled. If more victims come forward, the case could grow quickly. We will update this Pattaya news report when police release names, charges or loss figures.
Written by
Genext Information Systems Staff
ThaiThuk’s editorial team at Genext Information Systems — writers and long-term residents based in Thailand who report from the ground on Thai culture, travel, food and community. Every piece is checked against primary sources and updated as details change. More about ThaiThuk →
Sources
- The Pattaya News — report on the Pattaya call centre raid over an alleged fake cyber police recovery scam, published 14 October 2026.
Note on photographs: the images on this page are real press photographs from this incident, credited to The Pattaya News. No AI-generated imagery is used. Note on the people involved: the three people arrested are suspects and are entitled to the presumption of innocence; no charges had been published at the time of writing. Nothing here is legal advice. Thailand’s Tourist Police can be reached on 1155.