Thai police have busted a mule account gang working for a Chinese-led scam network and are seeking an Interpol Red Notice to arrest a Malaysian suspect.
The arrested Thais acted as mule bank account holders and received benefits from fraudulent schemes, police said on Wednesday.
One of the suspects, identified as Nattinee Burasun, 30, was in charge of collecting money and coordinating with the Chinese mastermind, police said.
Police also identified a Malaysian suspect, Lee Yong Hann Jovan, who took money out of Thailand.
The investigation began in November last year, after a 65-year-old retired civil servant in Pathum Thani was tricked by a call-centre gang posing as bank staff and officers from Maha Sarakham police.
The gang falsely accused her of involvement in a drug case and directed her to prove her innocence by transferring money for inspection, police said.
On Nov 13, the victim transferred 30,000 baht to a mule account. Later, after being unable to make an online transaction, she was told to withdraw 800,000 baht in cash, put it into a bag and place it in front of an abandoned house.
The Malaysian suspect Lee was the one who collected the bag. Investigators found that he had entered Thailand at Suvarnabhumi airport and then flew back to Malaysia with the victim’s cash.
Authorities are coordinating with Interpol to issue a Red Notice to arrest Mr Lee.
The gang continued to threaten the victim, forcing her to make more transfers on Nov 14 and 15, bringing her total losses to over 1.4 million baht.
