Metropolitan Police Bureau arrests mule accounts of Hong Kong stock trading scam

Mule accounts of Hong Kong stock trading scam gang arrested, using the trick of promising good returns, but when more money was invested, they claimed that they had to pay miscellaneous fees. The suspect claimed that a close friend asked him to open an account, but did not know that it would be used to commit crimes. Today, Pol. Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, ordered officers to arrest Mr. Metchaiyakiat, aged 29, under an arrest warrant from the Min Buri Criminal Court, No. Chor. 1250/2567, dated September 13, 2567, on charges of 'jointly defrauding others and jointly, by fraud or deception, importing distorted or forged computer data, in whole or in part, or false computer data, in a manner likely to cause damage to others, without being committed against the public but against a particular person.' The arrest was made on the side of the Tha Sao-Nong Dong road, Village 2, Tha Sao Subdistrict, Pho Thale District, Phichit Province yesterday (October 25, 2567). From the background check, another arrest warrant was found, which was the arrest warrant from the Phra Khanong Criminal Court, No. Chor. 157/2566, from March 67, on the charge of 'jointly committing theft at night by damaging barriers for protecting people or property.' This was because, around December 26, 2566, the victim saw an advertisement on Facebook inviting people to study and invest in trading Hong Kong stocks with experts in the Line Open Chat group. The victim was interested, so he added the friend and read the information. Then, on January 18, 2567, the victim decided to invest in trading Hong Kong stocks for the first time with an amount of 3,000 baht by transferring money to the account of Mr. Metchaiyakiat. On the same day, the victim received the investment money and profit of 3,245 baht back to the account, which made the victim confident because he received the first investment and the return was satisfactory. In addition, the deposit and withdrawal process was fast. Therefore, an additional 15, 000 baht was invested on January 23, 2024, but this time the money was transferred to the account of Ms. Duangnapa. On January 25, 2024, the victim transferred another 15,000 baht to the account of Mr. Thaweesak, hoping to make another profit from trading Hong Kong stocks. But after that, on Friday, January 26, 2024, the victim withdrew money along with profits from the account on the platform used to trade Hong Kong stocks to a personal bank account, but the money did not go in. So, he asked the coordinator or service department and was informed that he had to pay the charity fund and Hong Kong stock tax before he could withdraw money from the investment portfolio. The victim agreed to pay the tax as specified, so he was tricked into transferring more money. This time, he transferred it to a bank account named Mr. Itthiwat. Then, the victim began to suspect this suspicious behavior or procedure, so he believed that he was tricked into investing, so he filed a complaint and handed the case over to the invest igation officer to prosecute the suspect according to the law to the fullest extent of the law. During the arrest, the suspect stated that in mid-2023, he opened a bank account for a friend to use for online gambling. The friend claimed that it was not illegal, so he agreed to open a bank account for him without receiving any compensation because he saw that he was his close friend. He later found out that there was an arrest warrant. He was then sent to the investigation officer at Sai Mai Police Station to proceed with legal action. Source: Thai News Agency