Recently, the Thai police launched a special raid on Phuket Island targeting illegal online gambling and money laundering networks, successfully arresting 6 suspects, including 3 from Taiwan.
This operation was conducted under the command of General Chidira, the Director-General of the Thailand National Police, by the Thailand Bureau of Cybercrime Investigation. The police raided a high-end residential area on Phuket Island and seized a large amount of evidence during the search, including 119 mobile phones, 2 computers, 19 bank passbooks, and drugs (including 6 ecstasy pills and 74.5 grams of ketamine).
According to the police, this criminal gang used a payment system named "tsn7.yourpay" and specifically developed a mobile application—Tsnupay, to conceal the money flow of online gambling sites.
After each gambling fund entered the website account, the money was quickly split and transferred to multiple accounts to evade financial regulation. The police stated that the amount of money laundered through this system reached nearly 10 million Thai Baht (about 2 million RMB) daily.
The division of labor among the suspects was very clear: the Taiwanese suspects were responsible for ensuring the payment system operated 24 hours a day and monitored transaction records; the Thai suspects were responsible for opening fake bank accounts ("mule accounts") and conducting facial recognition verification to complete the fund transfers. Investigations found that the Taiwanese suspects received a monthly salary of 50,000 Thai Baht, while the Thai suspects were responsible for registering multiple fake accounts, opening 4 accounts per person, each account earning a compensation of 2500 Thai Baht. The suspects involved in facial scanning earned up to 20,000 Thai Baht per month.
This case indicates that illegal online gambling and money laundering activities have developed into transnational crimes, and their operation modes have broken through traditional "mule account" money laundering methods, becoming more complex and secretive financial crime networks. The Thai police have applied to the Phuket Court for arrest warrants, and so far, 29 suspects are on the wanted list, with the police actively pursuing other involved individuals.
The Director of the Thailand Bureau of Cybercrime Investigation, General Dai Rong, stated that this criminal gang not only uses advanced payment technology to conceal the direction of funds but also its scale and methods indicate that it has developed into a transnational money laundering organization.
The police are currently conducting in-depth analysis of the seized electronic devices, striving to trace the money chain and uncover deeper levels of the criminal network. General Dai Rong stated, "We will have more news soon, the police are intensifying their actions, planning to completely dismantle the financial networks of these illegal websites."
