Key suspect behind foreigners’ mule accounts arrested in Nakhon Pathom
A suspect who had allegedly deceived foreign workers into opening mule accounts for criminal activities was recently arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau and the Highway Police Division.
The suspect, identified as Chitisan, was arrested in Kamphaeng Saen district of Nakhon Pathom province for facilitating trade of bank accounts, electronic cards or electronic wallet accounts for criminal activities.
The suspect was handed over to police investigators at the Cyber Crime Investigation Division 2 in Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi province, for legal action.
The arrest came after 54 Myanmar workers filed complaints against a gang of Thai and Myanmar criminals who had lured them to work in Thailand.
According to the police, Chitisan allegedly lured foreign workers to open bank accounts and provided them SIM cards to facilitate registration, claiming that the opening of the account was for receiving their monthly wages.
The criminal group later sold the bank accounts and SIM cards for criminal activities, such as online shopping scams, online gambling and call-centre scams.
Police noted that those mule accounts had circulating funds of over 2 billion baht, adding that some Myanmar workers faced lawsuits from online scam victims.
The remaining Myanmar workers had sought assistance from the Myanmar embassy to close their mule accounts, police said, adding that the highway police had monitored Chitisan’s movement for several months until they located his hiding place in Nakhon Pathom province.
