SUPHAN BURI – A Thai mother-in-law of a Malaysian son-in-law has been arrested for her alleged involvement in a scam operation worth up to 800 million baht. She claimed her son-in-law borrowed her bank account.
On May 26, officers from the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) under the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested Ms. Kulsiria, 49, in front of her residence in Moo 19, Don Kha Subdistrict, U Thong District, Suphan Buri Province. Investigations revealed that she was involved with a scammer gang.
Kulsiria was issued an arrest warrant by the Criminal Court on charges of “jointly defrauding the public, jointly committing fraud or deception by bringing false information into a computer system, knowingly using it to commit an offense, and participating in a transnational criminal organization.”
The investigation into this case began when police received reports that a group of fraudsters had posted on Facebook, inviting people to invest in foreign stocks through an application they had created. They impersonated well-known individuals in the stock trading industry to build credibility and offered high returns to create incentives.
However, in the end, no promised returns were paid, and investors were unable to withdraw their invested money. A total of 10 victims, who lost over 800 million baht, filed complaints with the ECD.
Authorities later learned that the criminals operated as a syndicate, with Chinese-Malaysian financiers behind the scenes along with a number of Thais. Evidence was gathered to request court warrants for the arrest of more than 50 people involved, and 20 suspects have been apprehended so far.
Kulsiria used a domestic bank account in Thailand to receive benefits from Malaysians. She denied any involvement in the fraudulent scheme but admitted to being the mother-in-law of one of the key Malaysian suspects, who had previously borrowed her bank account without her knowledge of its intended use.
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