PHUKET – Following an investigation, it was revealed that foreigners had illegally entered Thailand to work or conduct business by using nominees. Officers from Provincial Police Region 8, directed by Police Lieutenant General Suraphong Thanomchit, entered and searched suspicious places alongside members of the Phuket Provincial Administration, Commerce Department, Tourist Police, and Phuket Immigration Police.
One suspicious location is the restaurant OCTOPUS, which is a popular meeting area for foreigners. With the support of Thai citizens, they registered VVG Alliance Company Limited as a nominee at Ban Don-Choeng Thale Road, Choeng Thale Subdistrict, Thalang District.
The police discovered that Ms. Punyanuch Thongkob, a Thai national, holds 51% of the shares but is only a nominee; Mr. Vladilav Zinakov, a Russian national, holds 24.5% of the shares but is the real owner of the store. The third accused, Pavel Shapovalov, acted in financial management., circulating funds of 80 million baht.
The fourth individual, Mr. Valerie, a stakeholder, faced accusations of being an alien collaborating to manage a business that Thais are unprepared to enter without authorization.
On the same day, officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) raided eight locations in Phuket Province suspected of being involved in crimes committed by foreigners.
The raids were an extension of a case in which a man impersonating a regional electricity official scammed victims into installing an app that allowed him to control their phones. He then hacked into their accounts and transferred 500,000 baht to the account of a Russian man.
An investigation into the Russian man’s financial transactions revealed that he had also received cryptocurrency transfers from non-custodial wallets. He then sold large amounts of the cryptocurrency and had the money transferred to his own bank accounts in Thailand. He then immediately withdrew the money in cash.
The investigation also revealed that the Russian suspect withdrew cash from bank counters and ATMs from three bank accounts between July 7 and November 19, 2023, totaling 186 million baht. This amount was found to be unusually high, so it is suspected that it could be a form of money laundering.
The Russian’s background check revealed that he had previously presented a work permit showing that he was employed by a company in Phuket province. Officials then raided the company and found that it was not actually operating. It had been registered for the purpose of creating fake documents that foreigners could use to apply for a work permit and a residence permit in the Kingdom.
A further investigation revealed that the company had two Thai women and one Russian woman as directors and shareholders. All of these women were also shareholders and directors of 38 other companies.
It is suspected that they may have been involved in other crimes committed by foreigners. The CSD therefore gathered evidence and obtained a search warrant from the court, which led to the above-mentioned raids on eight locations with a total of 17 companies.
During the raids, officers found two Thai women who admitted to setting up a company to register other businesses, apply for work permits, apply for visas and various other permits for foreigners. They admitted to setting up companies that were not actually operating in order to create fake documents to apply for various permits for foreigners.
In addition, the officers found that office equipment had been set up on the second floor of the office building to take photos of work to be used for applying for various permits for foreigners.
Officials seized two computers used to create forged documents and store foreign customers’ data, as well as more than 50 company stamps and around 500 documents. They will examine the documents and, if any wrongdoing is found, take legal action.
