Chiang mai: Police Region 5 has arrested a Chinese national, the leader of an online fraud gang, who forced victims to conduct illegal transactions. Pol. Lt. Gen. Kritthaphol Yisakhon, Commander of Provincial Police Region 5, revealed that this case stems from a complaint filed on April 2nd by Ms. Patcharee, the victim, at Chiang Mai City Police Station. She stated that she and her daughter accepted a job as housekeepers through social media and subsequently began working at a hotel. Later, she was allegedly forced by two Chinese men to use her bank account number to receive payments without her knowledge, and they took her to a bank in Chiang Mai to conduct money transfer transactions.
According to Thai News Agency, police traced the two Chinese men, Yang Gu and Yang Ji, to their backgrounds. A background check revealed that on February 27th, they had transferred money to purchase two mobile phones totaling nearly 100,000 baht. The money for these phones came from an account belonging to Ms. Wanida, which in turn was received from Ms. Kulnida, the victim of a fraud case filed at Pho Kaew Police Station in Nakhon Pathom Province. Following this, the two Chinese men purchased another 20 mobile phones, a behavior deemed suspicious. Police then brought them in for questioning and searched their residence in Mae Tha District, Lamphun Province.
Initially, evidence was found in the form of photographs of large amounts of cash, gold bars, and mobile phones, as well as conversation data from various applications related to recruiting Thai nationals to use bank accounts to receive money from online scams, or to provide "mock accounts." Ms. Apinya acted as an assistant coordinator. Based on this behavior, it is believed that the Chinese suspect and the Thai woman jointly provided these "mock accounts" to receive money from the crime, before converting the money into gold bars and mobile phones, and then shipping these phones to various shops to conceal the source of the funds.
While the victims confirmed the identities of the two Chinese nationals who coerced them into transactions, police are urging other victims to come forward and are preparing to expand the investigation to include the criminal network.