Police dismantle online gambling mule account network in Thailand
Police operations yesterday led by Police Major General Witthaya Sriprasertpab, in collaboration with Police Colonel Suriyasak Jirawat, resulted in the raid of 10 locations in Khon Kaen and Samut Sakhon provinces.
The operation targeted a syndicate involved in supplying mule bank accounts for online gambling networks.
Twelve suspects were arrested under warrants issued by the Khon Kaen Provincial Court on charges of facilitating the trade and leasing of bank accounts and electronic cards for illegal activities.
The raid also resulted in the seizure of several items, including one computer, one laptop, eight mobile phones, two iPads, 11 bank account books, four ATM cards, one car, two CCTV server units, and one internet router.
This operation followed a 2024 arrest of the MC4slot online gambling network, where eight people were apprehended, and over 150 account books, along with various electronic items, were confiscated.
Further investigations revealed that, in addition to the main financiers and website administrators, there was a separate team responsible for procuring mule accounts.
This team operated by creating groups to purchase mule accounts nationwide, performing tasks such as disseminating requests to buy mule accounts, facilitating the opening of SIM cards, and setting up bank accounts with facial recognition for app verification.
Once the SIM cards and bank accounts were acquired, they were sold to financiers or grey businesses, such as call centres, gambling websites, and fraudsters. If a mule account owner was found to be fraudulent, by reporting a card lost or withdrawing funds, the syndicate would retaliate with physical violence and record the incident to assure clients of the account’s reliability.
Subsequently, law enforcement gathered evidence to issue arrest warrants and conducted a sweep resulting in the capture of all 12 suspects along with the seized items, reported KhaoSod.
Initial interrogations revealed some suspects confessed to establishing the group that supplied mule accounts to gambling financiers and call centre gangs for over three years. They were handed over to the Investigations Division 3 of the Central Investigation Bureau for further legal proceedings.
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