A former inmate, 36-year-old Pratya, was arrested in Phuket for impersonating a well-known politician to lure a woman into a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment, causing her to lose 22 million baht.
The arrest took place in Koh Kaew, Mueang district, after the woman, a 62-year-old businesswoman from Pathum Thani, filed a complaint. She stated that a gang member pretending to be a prominent politician convinced her to invest in a cryptocurrency trading scheme, ultimately leading to her financial loss.
The investigation by the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) revealed that Pratya had played a role in creating mule bank accounts for a call center scam gang, which used these accounts to launder the gang’s illicit profits. During questioning, Pratya confessed that after being released from prison in 2023 for another crime, he struggled to find work. He was eventually approached by an acquaintance to open mule accounts for an online gambling website. For each account, he was paid 800 baht, creating a total of seven accounts.
Further investigation revealed two outstanding fraud warrants against Pratya from both the Pathum Thani Provincial Court and the Thon Buri Criminal Court.
This case follows a similar scam involving a transnational criminal group, which defrauded a woman of over 21 million baht through cryptocurrency investments in October 2023. The group, consisting of Thai, Myanmar, and Cambodian nationals, laundered the stolen funds by purchasing a luxury condominium in Bangkok.
One of the common tactics used by scammers is known as “pig butchering,” in which they gain the trust of victims over time—often through social media or dating platforms—before convincing them to invest in fraudulent schemes. The term refers to “fattening up” the victim financially before “slaughtering” them.
