Police in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok arrested one of six mule account holders linked to a call centre scam gang that defrauded 2.7 million baht from a Thai national football player.
The 33 year old Thai football player, Pokklaw Anan, filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau yesterday, December 2, reporting that he lost 2.7 million baht to the scammers. Pokklaw explained that he visited a fraudulent website seeking a loan of 600,000 baht.
The website guided him through several steps to access the loan, during which the entirety of the 2.7 million baht in his savings account was stolen. Officers investigated the financial transactions and discovered that Pokklaw’s money was transferred into six mule accounts.
Police managed to freeze three of these accounts and arrested three associated mule account holders. Another arrest, of a fourth mule account holder, was made yesterday in Soi Samakkee, Nonthaburi province.
Officers apprehended 20 year old suspect Chananya Duangsri at her residence. Chananya admitted to her involvement in the illegal activities and confessed to having opened the mule account at the beginning of this year.
Chananya explained that she travelled to Bangkok from her home province of Khon Kaen in Isaan in search of employment. A friend introduced her to a man who persuaded her to open six bank accounts, offering her 500 baht for each account.
Blame unemployment as motive
The man covered all the expenses associated with opening the accounts before taking her to Sa Kaeo province in Isaan. From there, they illegally crossed the border into a neighbouring country, where she was employed by the call centre scam gang.
Chananya’s role was to verify her identity by scanning her face on a mobile phone and to receive money from scam victims. She had to perform face scans multiple times a day, but her accounts were eventually shut down.
Deemed no longer useful, she was deported back to Thailand. Chananya claimed she earned only 10,000 baht from working with the scammers and accepted the job due to being unemployed at the time.
Chananya faces two charges:
- Section 343 of the Criminal Law: Committing public fraud, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both.
- Section 14(1) of the Computer Act: Importing forged data into a computer system in a way likely to cause damage to a third party or the public, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to 100,000 baht.
The identities of the other three arrested mule account holders have not been disclosed to the public.
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