Assets worth over THB1.5 billion seized in police crackdown on scammer gangs
The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) conducted a joint operation at 29 locations in three provinces on Thursday, which led to the seizure of over 1.5 billion in assets from two gangs of scammers.
Bureau commissioner Pol Lt-General Worawat Watnakornbancha said that Thursday’s operation was a follow-up of a previous one, codenamed “Trust No One”, in which two Chinese suspected scammers were arrested in May.
According to the bureau chief, the suspects – a 31-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman – had lured their victims from around the world to invest in a fake digital-money platform. The total damage was estimated at over 10 billion baht.
Investigation found a connection between the suspects and two other Chinese nationals living in Thailand, Worawat said on Thursday at a press conference about the crackdown.
The operation on Thursday covered Bangkok, Pathum Thani, and Chonburi provinces, where police conducted searches at 29 locations. Worawat said the operation was to locate assets believed to have been earned from the alleged crime.
During a search at a luxury condominium in Bangkok’s Lumpini area, a Chinese woman named Fengfei Chai was arrested. A warrant had been issued earlier this month for her arrest. She is accused of involvement in cross-border crime, embezzlement, money laundering, and entering false information into the computer system, according to the bureau chief.
The searches in three provinces led to the confiscation of more than 100 items believed to have been earned illegally. These include a Rolls-Royce sedan valued at an estimated 36 million baht, other luxury cars, and cash.
The total value of assets confiscated on Thursday was estimated at over 1.5 billion baht. This was the fourth operation on this gang of Chinese scammers. Altogether, assets worth about 3 billion baht have been confiscated during the four operations.
AMLO assistant secretary-general Kamonsit Wongbutnoi told the press conference at the bureau’s headquarters that his agency was making preparations to return money earned from the sale of the confiscated assets to the victims. AMLO would soon accept applications from the victims wishing to be compensated.
In a separate development, the bureau police arrested a 24-year-old Myanmar woman named Moe Moe Aye for alleged involvement in a so-called call-centre scam. The suspect was arrested at a luxury condominium in Bangkok’s Phra Ram 9 area.
She was charged with embezzlement, money laundering, and entering false information into the computer system.
A search of her condo led to the discovery of 4.44 million baht in cash, 17 bank passbooks, 16 ATM and cash cards, and two luxury bags.
The bureau police said that the Myanmar woman was part of a gang posing as officials and luring their victims to make millions in money transfers. This year alone, this gang has made more than 87 million baht from scams.
