Thai police conducted a raid on Sunday which uncovered a massive click-fraud operation being operated by three Chinese citizens who were subsequently arrested after the raid. The click-fraud operation was being run through a wall of 500 smartphones which were mostly iPhones as well as an estimated number of 350,000 SIM cards. The men arrested have reportedly acknowledged that they were running this operation to fraudulently increase the number of clicks in ads on WeChat, which is the largest messaging app in China.
The police had responded to reports of illegal migrants and upon raiding the home, they discovered the click-fraud operation. The men later accepted their role in the operation.
Even though their operation has been busted, the men still have a lot of details to provide, particularly about how they were able to acquire so many SIM cards when countries like Thailand and China both require IDs when purchasing and registering SIM cards in bulk.
The Bangkok Post points out in its report that while Thailand doesn’t have specific laws pertaining to click-fraud, such a practice has long been outlawed in China, where it has long been an illicit business. The arrested Chinese nationals are likely to be deported to their home country by Thailand.
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