Metropolitan Police Bureau arrests a mule account of a romance scam gang that tricked a 70-year-old woman into transferring dollars, but she had to pay taxes first.
Police jointly arrested Mr. Thiraphat, 22 years old, the person with the arrest warrant, who committed the crime of “fraud by impersonating another person and entering false computer data, whether in whole or in part, or false computer data into the computer system in a manner likely to cause damage to the public”. The arrest was made at the parking lot of Baan Ua-Athorn Suan Phun Phatthana, Thung Maha Mek Subdistrict, Sathon District, Bangkok.
The victim, a 70-year-old woman, came to the investigator to report that she had received a message from a Facebook named ‘San Serm Aphichat’ who spoke with the victim, saying that he was a soldier whose contract in Yemen had expired and would send the victim US dollars, but that the victim would have to pay taxes to the Thai government, totaling 23,000 baht, and that the victim would have to divide the
payment into 2 installments. The victim believed this and transferred money from her own bank account to the perpetrator’s bank account (mule account) 2 times: the first time for 15,000 baht, the second time for 8,000 baht, totaling 23,000 baht. After the money was transferred, she was unable to contact the person, so she believed that she had been tricked into transferring money, so she came to file a complaint to prosecute the perpetrator according to the law. The investigator filed a request for an arrest warrant for Mr. Thiraphon, the owner of the account that received the money.
While the accused stated that around 2023, the accused found a Facebook account opening service (can’t remember the name of the Facebook, deleted it). Because at that time he was in financial trouble, he agreed to open 3 bank accounts. The employer sent a mobile phone with a SIM card via private parcel for the accused to install and register the application linked to all 3 bank accounts. Then the accused sent the bank account wi
th the ATM card and mobile phone back to the employer via private parcel. The accused received 3,000 baht in compensation. The officers took him to Kookot Police Station for further legal action.
Source: Thai News Agency