Six members of a fraud gang - five Thais and a Ghanaian- have been arrested for duping a company in Japan into transferring more than 200 million baht.
Officers from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) arrested five Thais and a Ghanaian national separately in Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom and Nonthaburi on fraud charges.
Two other gang members – a Thai and another Nigerian suspect – remained at large. Warrants have been issued for their arrest, Pol Gen Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, the Royal Thai Police inspector-general, said on Friday.
The gang was accused of duping a firm in Japan into transferring 228 million baht into a bank account of one of its members in Thailand.
The CCIB was able to freeze almost all of the money, but the gang managed to withdraw 13 million baht, said Pol Gen Thatchai during a media briefing to announce the arrest of the suspects. Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phiewphan, chief of the CCIB, and senior cybercrime police also attended.
The gang had set up a company in Thailand to prey on the firm in Japan, which had been lured into transferring money for the purchase of its products. There was also another firm allegedly set up by the gang. CCIB investigators were to extend the investigation to find out whether the company served as a nominee for the gang’s firm.
Pol Lt Gen Trairong said the fraud gang had plotted the crime for a long time. They had infiltrated a South Korean partner company, and then used its name to open a company in Thailand. The gang then hacked emails of the South Korean business partner and sent invoices to the Japanese firm by stating that they would deliver goods to it.
The Japanese firm then transferred money to a bank account of the company set up by the gang in Thailand. Fraud audit staff of the Japanese firm found there were irregularities in the money transfers. They then sought cooperation from the CCIB to investigate and this led to the arrest of those involved, said Pol Lt Gen Trairong.