Eight visa agents in Thailand have been arrested and charged with using fake documents to help individuals from rural parts of the Southeast Asian country apply for visitor visas to work in New Zealand.
The fraud, originally uncovered by an Immigration NZ (INZ) staff member working in the Thai capital of Bangkok, also allegedly involved the sale of forged New Zealand residence class visas.
Vehicles, gold, bank records and forged documents were seized following simultaneous searches at five locations.
INZ national manager risk and verification Geoff Scott said the arrests showed 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”.
“This once more sends out a message to any other visa agents who believe they can get away with not following the rules and operating with impunity and anonymity.
“Certain visa agents believe the rules don’t apply to them and that they can behave however they like to make money.”
Numerous complaints from individuals who were sold false documents purporting to be New Zealand residence e-visas all linked back to the same visa agency, authorities said.
Immigration NZ worked with Thai authorities on investigating the network which allegedly used a front to deceive individuals attracted to “high-paying jobs” in New Zealand.
Money from victims was laundered through multiple accounts and properties to obfuscate the trail, Immigration NZ said in a statement.
Evidence of a parallel fraud scheme targeting South Korea was also detected during the investigation, resulting in the arrest of one South Korean fugitive in Thailand.
Scott said this was “another great example of international cooperation” in the fight against people smuggling, scams and visa fraud.
“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.”
