The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has arrested a Chinese national in Chiang Mai for allegedly laundering money for a transnational scam network linked to at least 16 online fraud cases.
CIB chief Pol Lt Gen Natthasak Chaowanasai said on Wednesday that Highway Police launched “Highway Scam Hunter EP4” last week to dismantle the network, which caused losses of more than 4 billion baht.
The investigation began after police assisted a retired government official who lost more than 1.4 million baht to scammers. It later uncovered a network involving Chinese nationals and a Cambodian police officer.
In the latest operation, officers traced money from victims through multiple mule accounts to Wei Huang, a Chinese suspect accused of converting fraud proceeds into digital assets.
Pol Lt Gen Natthasak said the network had clearly divided roles, with one group operating call centres to deceive victims and another supplying mule accounts and laundering the proceeds.
Investigators identified three methods of moving the money: cash withdrawals, gold purchases and transfers to mule accounts in Poipet, Cambodia, where the funds were allegedly converted into USDT before being returned to the scam network.
Financial records linked the network to at least 16 online fraud cases involving more than 7.2 million USDT, worth over 238 million baht.