Six suspects arrested by police on charges related to the forging of state documents, claim they learnt how to do it from instructional videos on YouTube and elsewhere on the Internet, a senior officer said at a press conference on Sunday.
The suspects also confessed to hiring people for Bt1,000 to Bt2,000 to open bank accounts for transactions, he said. They had been charged with forgery, and may face additional counts for racketeering and money laundering.
Police were in talks with Thailand Post Co to procure devices to scan for illegal items in parcels before deliveries as an increasing number of cases showed contraband being sent by post, he said.
The six were later transferred to Phayathai Police Station in Bangkok for further legal action.
The arrests stemmed from an earlier arrest on May 12 at a copy shop in Samut Sakhon’s Muang district. They allegedly provided forged documents such as education diplomas, police identification cards and gun possession permits to customers who posted orders online and received forged documents via the post.
Police then widened the net to arrest their accomplices.
The shop owner, told police he learned how to forge documents from the Internet, notably from YouTube videos, he was then given customers’ orders. The legitimate bank account of a female accomplice was used to receive payments.
The police warned the public about criminals hiring others to open bank accounts and obtain ATM cards for illegal transactions and withdrawals, saying it could land people whose names were on the accounts in trouble for abetting a crime.
Hardly worth the Bt1,000 to Bt2,000 they are paid for to open the account.
(Source:The Nation, Thailand)