This Monday, Thai police were joined by representatives of AIS, a leading mobile operator, for a press conference about the capture of SMS blaster phishing mobsters that began spamming victims approximately one week earlier. The techniques used by the scammers demonstrate how organized criminal gangs can combine well-established methods that will circumvent anti-fraud controls in telcos that lack a comprehensive strategy for crime prevention.
- An SMS blaster with a 3km radio range was driven around the Sukhumvit district in Bangkok, a densely-populated area with large shopping malls. The device was capable of sending 100,000 SMS messages per hour. It is believed that almost 1 million messages were sent during the short time the device was used.
- Phone users within range received a message stating: “Your 9,268 points are about to expire! Hurry up and redeem your gift now”. This was followed by a URL for phishing website. The URL included the string ‘aisthailand’, encouraging the false impression that the website belonged to AIS.
- The Telegram messaging app was used to instruct gang members about the exact wording of the scam SMS message.
- Information obtained via the phishing website included the victim’s credit card details, allowing the gang to make payments to accounts in other countries.
Police described the gang operating this scam as Chinese in origin, and the driver of the vehicle was identified as a 35 year old Chinese man. The police also said they were seeking arrest warrants for two Chinese members of the gang who currently reside in another country.
AIS worked with the police to locate the SMS blaster, leading to the arrest of the driver of the vehicle just two days after the discovery of the scam. The press briefing rightly provided no explanation of the methods used to find the SMS blaster. However, this outcome is consistent with previous conversations I have had with AIS insiders about their sophistication at locating SMS blasters. Their ability to find SMS blasters is evidently well ahead of most other mobile operators. It is also clear that AIS has a productive relationship with the police. The dedication of specialized police resources is equally vital to shutting down and punishing mobsters that target phone users with elaborate scams.
Video footage of the driver’s arrest and the equipment in his car can be seen below.
