Thai transwoman arrested over mule accounts, fraud and blackmail

Police arrested a Thai transwoman in Nakhon Ratchasima province yesterday, December 23, over multiple cases involving mule accounts, fraud, and blackmail linked to explicit videos obtained through virtual sex.

Officers from the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested the 27 year old suspect, Jerdjaratthip Mueangsong. Police said she was wanted under three arrest warrants issued by the Bangkok South Criminal Court.

According to investigators, Jerdjaratthip faces several serious charges, including fraud by impersonation, inputting false or misleading information into a computer system, and providing mule bank accounts for technology-related crimes.

In the first case, a victim filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau on November 5 after being deceived into transferring more than 10 million baht. The victim initially ordered cosmetic products from a Facebook page operated by Jerdjaratthip and transferred 1,875 baht as payment.

The transwoman then claimed the victim qualified for free delivery and a 50% discount, but required the victim to contact a delivery worker through the LINE application. The victim was then instructed to complete several tasks to receive the benefits. The victim followed the instructions and ultimately lost more than 10 million baht.

In the second case, Jerdjaratthip persuaded another victim to invest in cryptocurrency. She reportedly contacted the victim using a LINE account under the name Bes Naruebet. The victim later reported a financial loss of more than 430,000 baht in the investment scam.

The third case involved a romance scam and blackmail. Police said Jerdjaratthip contacted a victim through Instagram and LINE using the profile of an attractive woman. She later convinced the victim to engage in virtual sex via video call.

Investigators said the suspect secretly recorded the explicit video and later used it to blackmail the victim, initially extorting 35,000 baht. When the victim complied, she allegedly demanded an additional 100,000 baht in exchange for deleting the footage. The victim refused and reported the incident to police.

Further investigation allowed officers to identify Jerdjaratthip’s real identity and track her to Nakhon Ratchasima, where she was arrested.

During questioning, Jerdjaratthip denied all allegations. She admitted only to opening mule bank accounts for a scam network to receive transferred funds, insisting she did not directly operate the scams.

Police transferred the suspect to investigators for further legal proceedings and said the investigation would be expanded to identify other members of the criminal network.