Scam alert: Massive “Click farm” busted in Thailand

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Bizarre “Fake likes” operations are facing a crackdown by police.

A massive click-fraud operation was halted in Thailand this week, with police seizing 500 000 sim cards and hundreds of iphones that were used to promote phony businesses and their products on WeChat, a Chinese social media platform.

The raid took place in Sao Kaeo province, more than 100 miles east of Bangkok, and resulted in the arrest of three Chinese men: Wang Dong, 33, Niu Bang, 25, and Ni Wenjin, 32. The suspects admitted they had been getting paid 150,000 baht ($4,423 US or £3,473) per month from a company in China to run the seedy operation, in which they set up thousands of fake accounts to write positive reviews, generate views and like the company’s products. The men refused to name the company.

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The three men were illegals in Thailand and police are now attempting to determine how they obtained so many SIM cards, which are required to be logged to an individual at the time of purchase.

There are thousands more of these bizarre new “digital sweatshops”, which are becoming increasingly popular for unscrupulous companies trying to ramp up their online ratings. Many of these operations use low-paid workers in countries like, Bangladesh, India, China and Indonesia.

In light of the crackdown and the suspicion that there are many thousands of similar operations, consumers should be warned to be extra skeptical of purchasing online from companies that have thousands of likes and non-individualised reviews.

Footage of similar fraudulent click farms is widely available on YouTube, showing row after row of mobile phones linked together and programmed to repeat likes and shares for companies looking to increase public trustworthiness of their products.