BANGKOK: Thai police have smashed a $187 million international fraud ring, arresting 10 suspects including Chinese nationals, officers said Tuesday, in the kingdom’s latest move against online scam centres.
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau arrested the suspects on charges of “fraud, cyberfraud and accomplice to money laundering” and is seeking 22 more believed to include Thais, Chinese and Koreans.
The bust comes as Thailand tries to crack down on compounds housing illegal scam operations that have flourished in parts of Cambodia and Myanmar’s lawless borderlands.
The centres are staffed by foreigners, many of them Chinese, often trafficked and forced to work, swindling their compatriots in an industry analysts say is worth billions of dollars annually.
Supadech Thanachaisiri, an investigating officer, told AFP the group had swindled $187 million from their victims in cryptocurrency.
“These scammers are all linked to centres over the border, but which country (Cambodia or Myanmar) we have to investigate it comprehensively,” Suradech said.
According to investigators, the suspects lured victims through fake online jobs and “later convinced them to invest a large sum of money with promises of 30-50 percent returns,” a police statement released Tuesday said.
Of the $187 million, around half had been converted into Thai baht while the rest was invested in real estate, the police statement said.
One female suspect, a former tour guide for Chinese tourists, facilitated the money laundering side of the operation by converting cryptocurrency into Thai baht and “distributed funds to Chinese syndicates”, earning a commission, police said.
Authorities have seized cash, luxury watches and high-end cars as part of the investigation.
Thailand’s national police pledged last week to intensify efforts to tackle transnational scam operations.
The government this month cut off cross-border electricity supplies to five locations in Myanmar suspected of housing scam centres.