A Chinese couple was detained in Pattaya, Thailand, after being connected to a bitcoin scam and kidnapping.
After detaining a Chinese woman about a cryptocurrency investment fraud, Thai police learnt that her boyfriend, who was discovered at the same home, is a wanted person in China for suspected kidnapping.
Wu Di, a 27-year-old Chinese national, was arrested by the Thai police’s Technology Crime Suppression Division on Wednesday for her role in cryptocurrency scams that cost victims more than 600 million baht (US$17.7 million) during the previous two months, according to Thai media.
Zhou Zongyon, a 29-year-old Chinese national wanted for kidnapping, was also discovered by officials during a raid at the property Wu rented in the popular tourist destination of Pattaya. When a Thai teacher informed the authorities in April 2024 that she had been defrauded of about 1.5 million baht in an investment scam, the inquiry got underway.
According to Thai media, the victim was contacted on Facebook by the suspected scammer, who had an attractive profile photo, and convinced her to participate in a fund that was allegedly denominated in Singapore dollars.
At first, the victim was able to withdraw a portion of her money and received a tiny return. But when she made the decision to invest more, she was unable to get her money back, so she filed a police report.
Prior to being transformed into cryptocurrency, investigators found that the fraudulent funds were initially sent to four accounts created by Thai nationals, known as “puppet accounts.”
In the end, the tokens were moved to a digital wallet in Cambodia that was registered in Wu’s name. Her account was connected to at least 63 fraud instances that were submitted to the police, totalling 618 million baht, according to additional research.
According to Channel 3, three of the four puppet account holders have been charged and all four have been placed under arrest.
Zhou, the suspected kidnapper, has also been taken into custody by the authorities.
According to the English-language Thaiger News, he is wanted by Chinese officials for reportedly kidnapping a lady in Cambodia, sending her family pictures of the woman being tortured, and demanding a ransom of 1 million yuan (US$138,000).
Zhou is also suspected of being involved in fraud call centre money laundering.
His passport had no Thai entry stamps, according to an early examination, and he acknowledged breaking into the country across the Cambodian border.
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