'Cryptocurrency wizard' arrested in B500m fraud case
published : 5 Sep 2019 at 11:28
writer: Wassayos Ngamkham
A 48-year-old man wanted for his role in an alleged 500 million baht cryptocurrency exchange fraud was arrested in Bangkok on Wednesday evening.
Mana Jumuang was arrested while playing football at a field on Rama IX Road in Huai Khwang district, Pol Maj Gen Jiraphop Phuridet, commander of the Crime Suppression Division, said on Thurday.
He was wanted under an arrest warrant the Phichit provincial court issued on Aug 23.
Mr Mana is accused of being part of a Thai-Vietnamese gang that conned thousands of people in at least 10 Asian nations, including South Korea and Vietnam. The gang comprised three Thais and four Vietnamese, Pol Maj Gen Jiraphop said.
Their victims reported losses totalling about 500 million baht, he said.
Over the past two years the gang had persuaded people to invest in digital currencies through them. Gang members had individual roles, such as opening bank accounts and claiming to be digital asset investors.
Mr Mana termed himself the "cryptocurrency wizard" and allegedly spent some of the investors' money buying land in Phichit province.
Victims had received returns only initially, and were then unable to contact any of the gang members, the CSD chief said
Police were hunting for two other Thai suspects. The four Vietnamese suspects had already fled the country, Pol Maj Gen Jiraphop said.
- Keywords
- fraud
- arrest
- cryptocurrency
