A Nigerian man and a Thai woman have been charged with hacking the email account of a silverware firm in Chiang Mai and redirecting payments for goods ordered by customers overseas into their own bank account.
Nigerian Shola Rotimi Oluwole, 29
Pol Lt Gen Thanitsak Theerasawasdi, commander of the Provincial Police Region 5, said on Friday that 29-year-old Nigerian Shola Rotimi Oluwole and Miss Wannakorn Sukming, 29 from Nakhon Ratchasima province, had been arrested.
They confessed to hacking into the email account of Ms Acha Phatthong, 53, the owner of Achara Silver Co, which manufactures and exports hilltribe silver jewellery and accessories.
They tampered with the account changing the bank account number for payments for orders to their own account number, so that customers would transfer money into their bank account instead.
Two foreign customers had transferred a total of 101,644 baht to the gang's account, Pol Lt Gen Thanitsak said.
Miss Wannakorn and Mr Oluwole were arrested while they were withdrawing money at a bank in Bangkok.
Pol Lt Gen Thanitsak said police were hunting for two other Nigerians, members of the same gang.
He also warned businesses and people in general people to take precautions with their electronic transactions, otherwise criminals could hack into their information and use it illegally.