https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2024/11/18/chinese-cybercrime-bust-in-thailand-over-700-million-calls-using-fake-02-numbers/
Most interesting excerpt:
BANGKOK — Cyber police launched “Operation Bridge Blast” to suppress two major Chinese scammer gangs. One of these gangs had disguised themselves as a legitimate company to register phone numbers ’02-xxxxxxx’ used to deceive the public.
Another using False Base Stations to send fake SMS messages to victims.
... collaborating with AIS (Advanced Info Service), police investigated criminals driving vehicles equipped with fake SMS transmitters, sending messages like “Your 9,268 points are about to expire! Claim your gift now!” around busy areas of Sukhumvit
Road.
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.
AIS teams identified it as an SMS transmitter using a false base station to simulate AIS network signals. The modified telecommunications radio equipment was operating on various frequencies without NBTC permission. In just 3 days (November 11-13, 2024),
it had sent nearly 1 million messages.
Yang faces three charges: unauthorized possession/use/import/export/trade of radio communication equipment, unauthorized establishment of a radio communication station, and unauthorized use of telecommunications frequencies constituting
telecommunications operations. Investigation continues to identify the mastermind and network behind this operation.
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