Chiang Rai teens arrested for illegal money transfers
In Chiang Rai, five teenagers were arrested for illegal activities involving mule accounts, unauthorised SIM cards, and unlawful money transfers.
The arrests were made at 4.30pm yesterday, January 20, when an investigative police unit from Mueang Chiang Rai police station, led by Police Colonel Manop Senakul, detained the group. The team, also comprising Police Colonel Santi Kongsamak, Police Colonel Phiphat Naradech, and Police Colonel Sophon Muangfueng, apprehended 20 year old Ratchanon, 19 year old Piyasak, 19 year old Wanchalom, 20 year old Theerapong, and 20 year old Rattanapong.
Confiscated items included 19 mobile phones linked to bank accounts, six personal phones, and two computers used for remote control of mobile devices.
Police were alerted to a group of teenagers congregating at a rented house in the San Sai subdistrict, Mueang district, Chiang Rai province, suspected of engaging in illegal activities. Upon searching the premises, police found eight teenagers, five of whom were linked to opening bank accounts with attached phone numbers for money transfers.
Initial investigations revealed that the group clandestinely opened accounts to facilitate transactions related to illegal businesses. Their role involved setting up bank accounts and acquiring SIM cards linked to banking applications.
They would unlock transactions exceeding 20,000 baht (US$590) by using facial recognition, reported KhaoSod.
The teenagers were charged with facilitating others to use their bank accounts, electronic cards, or phone numbers without intent to benefit personally but rather with the knowledge that these would be used for technological crimes or other offences. They were subsequently handed over to investigators at Mueang Chiang Rai Police Station for legal proceedings.
In related news, the Royal Thai Police (RTP) launched an all-out crackdown on scam networks using over 200,000 mule bank accounts to siphon off approximately 100 billion baht from Thai citizens since 2022. The scale of the financial crimes has prompted an urgent collaboration between the RTP, the Bank of Thailand (BoT), and other agencies.
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