Nakhon Pathom: Central Investigation Police used an arrest warrant from the Criminal Court to arrest a 34-year-old woman after a victim asked for help after a scammer impersonated a close friend and sent her a link to fill in personal information, after which nearly 1 million baht was stolen from her account.
According to Thai News Agency, the Central Investigation Bureau arrested Ms. Nuch, a 34-year-old woman with no civil registration status, in an unnamed shophouse in Sam Phran District, Nakhon Pathom Province. At the end of January, a victim sought assistance after being scammed out of nearly 1 million baht by a gang of scammers while she was abroad. The scammers, pretending to be her close friends, sent her a message with a link to a Google form inviting her to travel abroad and asking for personal information, including her name, surname, and ID card number. Upon her return to Thailand, the victim discovered that almost 1 million baht had vanished from her account and reported it to the police to aid in tracking down the scammers and bringing them to justice.
During initial questioning, the suspect confessed to selling the mule account to another individual. After obtaining information from the Google form link, he hacked the victim's phone number and linked it to his bank account and new phone. He transferred money from the victim's account 26 times, totaling 999,990 baht, to his bank account before withdrawing the cash and sending it to a broker via parcel delivery, following orders from a superior. The operation involved multiple individuals, including the owner of the mule account, the broker who purchased the mule account, the person who withdrew the cash, and the person responsible for receiving and sending the parcel. Ms. Nuch was initially prosecuted for 'opening a mule account.'
Police extended their search to four locations in four provinces: Nakhon Pathom, Chachoengsao, Khon Kaen, and Maha Sarakham. They successfully arrested four more individuals within the network, who confessed to contacting Ms. Nuch to purchase the mule accounts.