On March 4, Bangkok police, immigration officers and cybercrime police executed a search warrant at an office in a luxury apartment building on Rama 9 Road in Huai Khwang district. Residents had complained that many Vietnamese nationals gathered there and suspected online scam activity. Police surveillance found locked entrances, round-the-clock guards and shifts of at least 20 people. Outsiders were barred from the interior, and even cleaners could only remain in the lobby.
Police held nearly 100 Vietnamese nationals at the scene and seized at least 50 computers and laptops and at least 300 mobile phones. A preliminary inspection showed active Vietnamese-language online gambling pages, including games and football betting, with transactions in Vietnamese dong. Police suspected that the servers were operated from Thailand and that large sums were circulating.
Nobody at the premises admitted being in charge or gave a detailed statement. Investigators said a large private company had rented and then sublet the office, and the Vietnamese group was suspected to have moved in early that year. Residents said foreigners had briefly worked there in the middle of the previous year and then left; the group returned shortly before New Year. Police continued tracing the organisers and money flows.