BANGKOK — Thai police working with the FBI have recovered and returned more than $320,000 in stolen cryptocurrency to Thai victims after tracking down a Russian hacker hiding in Phuket, officials said Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Suraphon Prempoot, commander of Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB), said the operation—code-named “Operation 293”—followed an FBI alert that the suspect had fled to Thailand. Investigators later seized digital assets from the hacker’s wallets, marking one of the country’s most successful international cybercrime recoveries to date.
Authorities said the case began when victims’ computers were infected with malware that stole authentication keys and seed phrases used to access crypto trading accounts. The hacker then converted victims’ assets into USDT and Bitcoin, siphoning funds into multiple wallets.
Police determined the suspect was from Russia, and coordinated with Tether, the issuer of USDT, to freeze the stolen funds. Investigators identified six more Thai victims targeted in the same scheme, with total losses exceeding 100,000 USDT (about 3.2 million baht).
Working with Thai exchange Bitkub, officers analyzed smart contracts and secured the assets before transferring 432,000 USDT into the CCIB’s custody wallet to begin restitution.
Suraphon said the case highlights the importance of cross-border collaboration among law enforcement and private companies in tackling transnational cybercrime.
“This operation shows that even sophisticated hackers cannot hide behind digital anonymity,” he said, adding that the seized funds were formally returned to two Thai victims on November 10.
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