The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Thailand's Technical Crime Suppression Division has mobilized police forces to arrest 10 suspects involved in a case, charging them with "conspiracy to defraud the public," "impersonation for fraud," "intentionally forging or altering data and entering false information into computer systems causing damage to the public," "conspiracy to launder money," and "joining an organized crime group," among other charges.
The information of the 10 arrested suspects is as follows (names are transliterated):
1. Achala (female), 27, arrested in an apartment in the Brilliant District of Bangkok under the arrest warrant No. 825/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
2. Gao (male), 35, arrested in an apartment in the Brilliant District of Bangkok under the arrest warrant No. 829/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
3. Xiong (male), 30, arrested in an apartment in the Brilliant District of Bangkok under the arrest warrant No. 839/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
4. Mao (male), 46, arrested in a hotel room in Chiang Mai under the arrest warrant No. 834/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
5. Zhou (female), 44, arrested in a village house in Chiang Mai under the arrest warrant No. 827/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
6. Pantip (female), 44, arrested in a residence in Bajen Province under the arrest warrant No. 817/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
7. Noppa (male), 31, arrested in a residence in Sajiao Province under the arrest warrant No. 814/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
8. Qiu Ti (male), 21, arrested in a village in Longzaicuo Province under the arrest warrant No. 812/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
9. Pandal (female), 26, arrested in a residence in Luokun Province under the arrest warrant No. 813/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025;
10. Supawadi (female), 39, arrested at the entrance of a residence in Yegong Province under the arrest warrant No. 810/2568 issued by the Criminal Court on February 7, 2025.
In recent years, telecom fraud gangs have continuously changed their fraud methods and gradually started using social media for scams, such as posting high-paying job advertisements to lure victims into participating in work or obtaining part-time opportunities. Once the victims believe that they can quickly earn money through such simple work, they are asked to transfer money, thereby defrauding them of their funds.
In February 2024, a job-seeking victim saw a part-time recruitment post by a telecom fraud gang on social media, mistakenly believed its claim of remote work, and contacted the telecom fraud gang to discuss the position. Initially, the telecom fraud gang had the victim perform simple tasks such as liking and increasing follower counts, and paid a salary, making the victim believe that the job was lucrative and willing to continue with the job.
After a while, the telecom fraud gang began to persuade the victim to participate in other activities, but the victim had to first "invest" to obtain a high return of about 30%-50%, and gave high returns in the first few "transactions." When the victim started investing more money, the telecom fraud gang refused to pay the "investment" returns on the grounds of "not following the rules." Eventually, the victim realized that they had been scammed and immediately reported to the police.
After an in-depth investigation, the Technical Crime Suppression Division discovered that the gang was a transnational money laundering group, involving several Thai and foreign nationals. The suspects received funds through different bank accounts, then converted them into cash. The police estimated that about 60 victims encountered similar scams, with losses exceeding 10 million Thai baht. After collecting relevant evidence, the police applied for arrest warrants from the Criminal Court and pursued 32 suspects involved in the case, including 10 Thai horse account holders, 2 Chinese telecom fraudsters, and 20 money laundering participants (1 Thai, 14 Chinese, and 5 Koreans).
From February 11 to 14, 2025, the police launched a special operation codenamed "Strike Against the Grey Dragon Money Laundering Gang," conducted 20 searches at 8 locations nationwide, and successfully arrested the aforementioned 10 suspects, including 5 money laundering participants and 5 horse account holders, and seized assets worth over 14 million Thai baht, including computers, mobile phones, passbooks, luxury cars, cash, real estate, luxury watches, and designer bags. After inspecting the properties, the police speculated that the gang had been laundering money to purchase luxury houses and luxury goods, with a total value exceeding 440 million Thai baht.
In the initial interrogation, Achala (Suspect 1, the main money laundering suspect from Thailand) denied all charges but admitted the following facts: Around 2019, she worked as a Chinese tour guide, leading Chinese tourists on tours in Thailand.
By 2023, she met a Chinese boyfriend, and together they received digital currency from the Chinese grey industry and sold it, exchanged it for Thai baht, and transferred it to the Chinese grey industry gang for their use in Thailand. For each transaction, Achala could earn a service fee of 0.03%-0.05%.
According to Achala, her boyfriend would contact the Chinese grey industry gang, and then she and other members would collect digital currency from clients and sell it through the EXCHANGE platform in a P2P manner, then transfer the funds according to the instructions of the Chinese grey industry gang.
If the transaction amount was small, Achala and her Chinese boyfriend would transfer the funds through their own accounts; but if the transaction amount was large, Achala would withdraw cash to a designated location to hand over to the Chinese grey industry gang, or deposit the cash into a designated account. Since the Chinese grey industry gang needed to use the illegally obtained funds for consumption in Thailand, Achala and her Chinese boyfriend had been laundering money for the Chinese grey industry gang along with other members since 2023.
The police, through investigating the financial paths of the involved gang, found that they received about 187 million USDT (approximately 6.5 billion Thai baht), of which about 2.9 billion Thai baht in cash had been withdrawn. Additionally, the gang also used the illegal proceeds to purchase real estate, and the related assets are currently under further investigation.
Suspects 2-5, all Chinese nationals, also completely denied the charges, stating that they only cooperated with Achala and other Chinese gangs to receive digital currency from the Chinese grey industry gang and hand over the cash after selling it.
The evidence shows that these gang members each had their roles, some responsible for withdrawing cash from branches, and some responsible for delivering cash to designated clients in various parts of Thailand.
In this case, the police not only discovered the financial path of the gang's real estate purchases but also found that the gang had established a company with a Thai person as a "puppet legal person" to use the name of a Thai person to transfer real estate to Chinese people. After the transfer of property rights of the real estate was completed, the board of directors of these companies would be replaced by Chinese people, but most of these "companies" had no actual business operations.
The case is still under further investigation, and the police are continuing to seize real estate and pursue legal responsibilities for all related personnel.
Additionally, the police remind the public to be cautious with investments, thoroughly understand investment information in advance, avoid trusting strangers or unverified projects, and be vigilant against online scams to prevent personal property loss.
