Law enforcement is currently in pursuit of the relatives of a female deputy mayor in Nakhon Si Thammarat, suspecting their involvement in a significant Chinese telephone scam operation.
On Monday morning, police and prosecutors conducted searches across several locations in the southern province, including the residences of Rewadee Teepapaiboon, aged 51, and her daughter Athitaya, aged 23, situated in a housing estate in Chawang district.
Ms. Rewadee, her daughter, and her husband, Lin Dunyang, aged 62, are currently evading authorities. Earlier, Ms. Rewadee was summoned by the police to face charges linked to a Chinese scam syndicate that targeted victims from Thailand, China, Russia, and Japan.
The charges against them encompass public fraud, computer-related crimes, unlawful assembly, and involvement in a transnational criminal group.
According to Pol Maj Gen Wiwat Khamchamnan, deputy commander of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, the police dismantled the Chinese online scam network during raids on four locations in Nakhon Si Thammarat in March. The gang had leased properties from Ms. Rewadee, who serves as the deputy mayor of tambon Chandee in Chawang district.
The gang, consisting of approximately 90 individuals, was apprehended in previous raids, during which the police seized 192 computers, 854 mobile phones along with SIM cards, 22 routers, and 342 mule bank accounts.
Pol Maj Gen Wiwat alleged that Ms. Rewadee’s husband had financed the purchase of computers and phones for the scam operation, while her daughter acted as a nominee for a front company affiliated with the Chinese scam group.
In Monday’s operations, the police detained four suspected accomplices, comprising one man and three women, in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani. They are believed to have overseen mule accounts for the scam network. The male suspect was apprehended at Chin Heng Hotel in Chawang district, where numerous phones and routers were found in his possession.
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Police seized phones and routers during a raid at Chin Heng Hotel in Chawang district, Nakhon Si Thammarat, on Monday morning. The location was one of several raid targets. (Photo: police)
