A 34-year-old Thai man, identified only as Pattharapol, was arrested on Sunday in Chachoengsao’s Sanam Chai Khet district after allegedly selling more than 200,000 SIM cards to call centre gangs operating in Poipet, Cambodia. Local police, along with officers from the Technology Crime Suppression Sub-Division 3, apprehended Pattharapol at a roadside checkpoint in Moo 9 village, Tambon Thung Phaya.
Pattharapol was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court on April 25, following a crackdown on a Chinese call centre gang. This gang had deceived a retired government official into transferring approximately 10 million baht. During their investigation, the arrested gang members revealed that Pattharapol had supplied them with the SIM cards used for their fraudulent activities.
Authorities charged Pattharapol with engaging in transborder crimes, collaborating with others to defraud the public, impersonating others to commit fraud, and inputting deceptive information into computer systems to cause public harm.
The arrest followed an extended surveillance operation after police received information suggesting that Pattharapol had crossed the border from Cambodia and was heading towards Bangkok. In addition to the original arrest warrant, he was found to be wanted under two further warrants, issued in December 2024 and September 2024, for allegedly opening mule bank accounts for use by call centre gangs.
Upon questioning, Pattharapol confessed to selling over 200,000 SIM cards to the criminal organizations in Poipet over the past year. He also admitted to recruiting others to sell more than 200 mule bank accounts used by these gangs to facilitate fraudulent transactions.
The authorities are continuing to investigate the full extent of Pattharapol’s involvement in transnational fraud operations, which have targeted victims across borders.
