The Royal Thai Police, the Cyber Crime Investigation Center (PCT), and the Metropolitan Police Bureau of Bangkok, armed with a court-issued search warrant, conducted a raid at a residential area in Bang Kaeo town, Ban Lam district, and arrested five foreign fraudsters.
Among the five, one was a 29-year-old Chinese national, Miss ZHOU ZHOU (referred to by Thai media as an LGBTQ individual), while the other four were Thai nationals.
The police also seized six types of evidence, including 102 bank accounts, 70 debit cards, about 1000 various phone cards, four mobile phones containing crucial information, one computer, and one car. The case was intensified by the Thai authorities following Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's directive to crack down on telecommunications fraud, leading to the discovery of this gang.
Subsequently, the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau and his officers gathered more clues from a victim who reported to the Phra Khanong Police Station. They learned that the gang was luring victims into a "pig-butchering" romance scam by forging identity information and inviting them to invest in a new TikTok store in Singapore. The gang enticed victims by initially offering profits on "tasks" to encourage them to invest more, eventually leading to situations where the invested money could not be withdrawn, and victims were deceived into investing even more money.
The police traced the gang's financial trail to Miss ZHOU, the gang leader, who was found living a lavish lifestyle in Thailand, in cahoots with a Thai woman named Alisa, who had recently resigned from a teaching position. Their residence served not only as their love nest but also as the final stage where the gang converted the money into Bitcoin.
The gang also hired individuals to open bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets as a contingency, involving a total amount of 91,192,017 Thai Baht.
After her arrest, ZHOU denied the charges but confessed that there was a mastermind in a neighboring country, and her main responsibility was to manage the bank accounts and the funds obtained from the fraud. The money would be converted into digital currency and then transferred back to her through a well-known cryptocurrency app.
The police stated that they now have solid evidence proving that the two were leaders of the gang within Thailand and that the investigation would be expanded to the fullest extent.
