Suspicious Contact to A Foreign Teacher This Week - Spies?

[swordfish]

I wasn't sure where to post this so if this is the wrong category, mods can move the post.

I work at a well-known school in Thailand. One of the foreign teachers is Iranian and part of an ethnic minority group in Iran. She single, working on her PhD, and has traveled around the world. I will just call her, Jill. This week, Jill received a phone call, from a Thai number, followed by a Line message, from a person who claimed to be with the Office of the Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Line profile associated with that message did not have a personal photo or any history of postings on the account. In the phone call, the caller told Jill that she was the subject of a random check on foreigners working in Thailand. We all thought it was an obvious scam and that Jill should ignore it. Then . . . the plot thickens . . .

At first the caller wanted to meet Jill in a random outside location but not at Jill's place of work. Jill convinced the caller to meet her at her job, and to our surprise, the caller and another individual actually showed up! Now there are two visitors sitting in the main office at our school. Both visitors, one woman who was the caller, and a man, are Thai and the woman speaks fluent English. The two visitors refused to present any form of ID or credentials to Jill or our supervisors. We would think that any official government personnel would have credentials.

The visitors also had a copy of Jill's work contract, work permit, visa status, and even knew that she had just returned to Thailand from overseas travel! They asked Jill about her visa and work permit process, how she was getting paid, how she liked the job, and her pay. Then, it gets interesting . . . They start asking Jill about the situation in Iran, Jill's feelings about Iran, and so forth. They even asked Jill what bank account she uses in Thailand, as if they were going to investigate her financials next. Some of us think that since Jill is from Iran, the Iranian government is keeping tabs on her and that these two visitors may have been associated with the Iranian government.

I Googled the phone number that the visitors used to call Jill, but Google yielded no results. That phone number is also not searchable on Line. Has anyone ever experienced this? Thoughts?

[Neverna]

Israelis or Americans.

[BLD]

One for the TD sleuths , they love a good conspiracy theory

[nidhogg]

[QUOTE=swordfish;4555347. The two visitors refused to present any form of ID or credentials to Jill or our supervisors. We would think that any official government personnel would have credentials.

The visitors also had a copy of Jill's work contract, work permit, visa status, and even knew that she had just returned to Thailand from overseas travel! [/QUOTE]

Dead suss. Failing to provide ID would be a conversation killer for me. Jill may have had to give a lot of the documents they had as part of her being allowed to leave the country. Recent trip will be tagged to the passport.

My guess would be they are iranian agents. She should never be with them alone, and always have a witness.

Your school should have booted them the minute they would not show any id - what ever they were there for.

[BLD]

Good advice. That shit must make her nervous though

[david44]

Your school should have booted them the minute they would not show any id - what ever they were there for.

Agree entirely the fact they did not suggests it is an extremely unprofessional outfit, leading school here means nothing where bribery, corruption fake credentials are the norm a heroin smuggler iss the cabinet, murder, bribe lie welcome to LOS as much injustice ass you can pay for.

If a friend not her can be bothered probably clock these guys around their embassy consulate that used to be near soi 22 and the Qantas stewards hotel the Imperial Queen's Park which I think has been renamed

[Ukan Kizmiaz]

Amway.

[schweizer]

Has your friend been involved in any anti-Iranian comments or politics in the past that would prompt this action, maybe her or a close relative. If the school has cameras they should obtain photos and approach a suitable police department so this matter is recorded in case it happens again

[Topper]

My guess would be they are iranian agents. She should never be with them alone, and always have a witness.

Or recruiters for another intelligence service. She's a doctoral candidate, so she's probably going to be high up when she gets back.

Can the OP give us her field of study?

[david44]

Can the OP give us her field of study?

Wagering on lower leg end, aka shin bets

[swordfish]

Has your friend been involved in any anti-Iranian comments or politics in the past that would prompt this action, maybe her or a close relative? If the school has cameras they should obtain photos and approach a suitable police department so this matter is recorded in case it happens again.

None that I know of but she is a secret Christian and opposes the Muslim culture.

The school does have cameras and we have the visitors on camera. The school bosses tried to make a few phone calls to verify who these visitors were, to no avail.

Or recruiters for another intelligence service. She's a doctoral candidate, so she's probably going to be high up when she gets back. Can the OP give us her field of study?

A STEM field. In fact, she will finish her PhD in the next year or two and her research is in a very innovative field that will be ubiquitous in the very near future.

I wonder if the Iranian government would really go that far as to spy on one of their own citizens in another country. It is a bit eerie that these visitors already had all of Jill's personal info. I wonder if they bribed someone at the Thai immigration or labor office.

[PlanK]

The visitors also had a copy of Jill's work contract, work permit, visa status, and even knew that she had just returned to Thailand from overseas travel! They asked Jill about her visa and work permit process, how she was getting paid, how she liked the job, and her pay. Then, it gets interesting . . . They start asking Jill about the situation in Iran, Jill's feelings about Iran, and so forth. They even asked Jill what bank account she uses in Thailand, as if they were going to investigate her financials next.

Sounds very similar to my security clearance interviews. As Topper mentioned, possibly recruiters.

[armstrong]

Why did school just let them in after they refused to show ID?

[swordfish]

Why did school just let them in after they refused to show ID?

Good question and I will clarify. The visitors showed IDs at the entry gate to the guards in order to get visitors' badges. Once they passed the guards and got inside the school, they came to our office, and in the office they did not show ID or official government credentials to Jill or the heads of our school. I'm sure the guards likely have some record of their IDs if we need to investigate . . . assuming the visitors provided the guard with their real IDs . . .

I know everyone has millions of questions such as, "Why didn't the school . . ." or, "Is Jill . . . "

I would rather hear if anyone has ever heard of something similar happening in Thailand. Could these visitors be scammers, actual Thai government officials who just seem sketchy, spies working for Iranian government, or something else?

[swordfish]

*Deleted because of duplicate post above.*

[Stretchy]

Did anyone see what vehicle they came and went in?

[Chris Daley]

So they teach Iranian now in schools? Let me guess she is native English.

[Topper]

I would rather hear if anyone has ever heard of something similar happening in Thailand.

While I've never heard of this happening in Thailand, foreign students who have experienced the joys of freedom tend to be easily recruited by intelligence agencies, especially if she's been vocal about her Western influence, or the Iranians could be checking up on her for the same reason. Personally, now I'm guessing it's the Iranians, because they didn't care about being photographed or showing up in a semi-public place with no idea of who might be awaiting them.

So they teach Iranian now in schools? Let me guess she is native English.

If she can pass an TOEFL test with a certain score, then yes, she can teach in Thai schools using English, and it may not be English that she's teaching. I've worked with an Iranian math teacher, a Polish math teacher and even, heaven forbid an English math teacher and they're not native speakers.

[swordfish]

While I've never heard of this happening in Thailand, foreign students who have experienced the joys of freedom tend to be easily recruited by intelligence agencies, especially if she's been vocal about her Western influence, or the Iranians could be checking up on her for the same reason. Personally, now I'm guessing it's the Iranians, because they didn't care about being photographed or showing up in a semi-public place with no idea of who might be awaiting them.

I reckon the same. The two visitors appeared to be Thai, so in their own country they probably have permission and work in cahoots with both the Thai and Iranian governments to run this little shakedown here. The visitors had some balls to show up at the school, but they probably had nothing to lose if they already had a plan in case of getting reported by the school, which was really all the school could do if they chose.

Now I sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist but this story intrigues me too much. There are many Chinese syndicate scam centers throughout SE Asia, Thailand included, and these countries' governments must be in on the scams to allow the scams to continue. The Iranian government has reportedly targeted Iranians living abroad. Therefore, this story isn't too farfetched. I like to monitor the latest scams so I know what to avoid and educate others on, but this is a new one to me. Probably not a scam, just free-spirited Jill's unfortunate targeting by her country's government. Stay tuned folks. If any updates transpire, I will let you know.

[DrWilly]

Refuse to show ID? School and Jill are stupid af.

[helge]

So they teach Iranian now in schools?

Was dat ?