Photo: Supplied
Eight visa agents in Thailand have been charged by local authorities after Immigration New Zealand (INZ) found they were attempting to facilitate visitor visa applications using various fake documents.
The visas were intended for people living in rural Thailand who were planning to work in New Zealand.
The agents also allegedly scammed victims by selling them forged New Zealand Residence Class visas in Thailand.
Vehicles, gold, bank records and forged documents were also seized following searches conducted by Thai law enforcement at five different locations.
The fraud was originally discovered by an INZ staff member working in the Thailand office.
Risk and Verification National Manager Geoff Scott said it was another example that visa agents attempting to break the law will be caught.
"We can find out who they are and will work with local law enforcement partners to ensure justice is served.
"Certain visa agents believe the rules don't apply to them and that they can behave however they like to make money. But no one is above the law, and these arrests show that neither New Zealand nor Thailand will stand idly by when people are victimised like this, and there will be real-world consequences for such behaviour."
In addition, numerous complaints have also been received from individuals who had been sold false documents purporting to be New Zealand Residence e-visas, which linked back to the same agency network.
Money received from victims was laundered through multiple accounts and properties to disguise the trail. During the course of this investigation, evidence of a parallel fraud scheme targeting South Korea was also detected, involving over 450 Thai victims and resulting in the arrest of one South Korean fugitive in Thailand.
"This is another great example of international cooperation in the fight against people smuggling, scams and visa fraud," Scott said.
"Groups engaged in this kind of organised criminal activity rely on governments not talking to each other in order to get away with it. That didn't work for them here."
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