Teen Arrested for Operating Fraud Money-Laundering Account
An 18-year-old was arrested for operating money-laundering accounts used in a Facebook fraud scheme where victims ordering computer components never received goods, losing hundreds of thousands of baht since March.
On September 8, Senior Lieutenant General Surpol Prembut, commander of the Cyber Crime Division, ordered the arrest of Thanachot, 18, under warrant number 5178/2569 issued on August 28.
Since March, multiple students and young people had ordered computer components through a Facebook page named "Tanachot Apinet," transferred payment amounts, but never received the goods. They later discovered it was a fraud scheme. Total damage exceeded hundreds of thousands of baht before victims reported the case to the Cyber Crime Police for prosecution.
Investigators from the division traced Thanachot as a member of the scam gang who opened money-laundering accounts to receive victim funds. Police gathered evidence and obtained a court arrest warrant, apprehending him in the Bang Pli area of Samut Prakan on September 7.
During interrogation, Thanachot admitted that after leaving a job at an online gambling site in Poipet, he applied for online work through an employer. The employer requested his national ID copy and bank account number but no actual job materialized. Instead, money was regularly deposited into his account. Each time funds arrived, the employer would message him to provide OTP numbers for ATM cash withdrawals before the account was frozen and he was arrested.
Initially, he faces charges of fraud and computer crime involving falsified or fraudulent data entry into a computer system likely to cause public harm. He has been transferred for further investigation and prosecution.
