Phuket: Cyber police have arrested four foreign hackers who used ransomware to extort over 1,000 victims, resulting in a loss of more than 560 million baht. Pol. Lt. Gen. Trairong Phiwpaen, Commander of the Technology Crime Investigation Police, led the operation in Phuket Province, with support from the Immigration Police and the Provincial Police Region 8, to apprehend these international criminals. This crackdown was initiated following requests from the United States and the Swiss Confederation for international cooperation in extraditing the suspects and gathering evidence against them.
According to Thai News Agency, the suspects targeted more than 17 companies in Switzerland between April 30, 2023, and October 26, 2024. They gained unauthorized access to networks, stealing data and encrypting files using Phobos ransomware. Victims were then asked to pay a ransom in cryptocurrency to receive a decryption key. If the ransom was not paid, the hackers threatened to sell or disclose the stolen data through emails and phone calls. Additionally, the suspects offered a cryptocurrency mixing service to obscure transaction traces on the blockchain.