Phuket Raid Captures Four Foreign Hackers Behind 560M Baht Scam

[Zack61]

Off with their heads. Scum

[norsurin]

Deatgcentence to all of there scumbags.I hope they arrest more of this <deleted> people.

 

[gravity101]

Scum. Seems they thought Thailand was an easy country to continue operations. Well done Thai police. More of the same please, there are many.

 

My next door neighbours seem up to no good also, can't believe no one has come knocking. 10 odd males with a lot of computer equipment, a fair few bob in cars, awake 24/7.. tourists they are not, a company they are not. If they are digital nomads, that description needs refining, they don't look like your average horticulturalists.

[steven100]

Low-life scum,     put them away for 15 yrs minimum   

[Terry Juhlin]

2 hours ago, mikeymike100 said:

Did it say the nationality of these perps, it mentioned they were wanted in Switzerland, are they Swiss?

“ It is assumed they hold Swiss nationality due to their association with Swiss arrest warrants.”

[Jonathan Swift]

2 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

Outta with them. Ban them from entering again

Too light. Keep them in  Thai jail for a year or so before deporting them. No bail. Flight risk, duh.  

[wensiensheng]

2 hours ago, Hakuna Matata said:

 

Thailand has long become a safe heaven for fugitives and criminals from all over the world. 

Stricter visa policy is required, especially for nationals of several countries including but not limited to Switzerland, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Nigeria, Ghana, United States, Ukraine, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Korea, Moldova and some other countries.

 

Visa Free scheme should be abolished for those countries. A proper entry visa should be obtained in the country of citizenship prior to entering Thailand, including criminal record check and possibly, a mental health check up.

 

 

I can see the point of stricter visa rules for several of the countries that you list, but why Switzerland?

[Presnock]

2 hours ago, mikeymike100 said:

Did it say the nationality of these perps, it mentioned they were wanted in Switzerland, are they Swiss?

story says that they are Swiss national

[newbee2022]

46 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

Too light. Keep them in  Thai jail for a year or so before deporting them. No bail. Flight risk, duh.  

Yeah, much better, thanks 🙏 

[edwardflory]

3 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

Lock them up in any of Thailand's notoriously nasty prisons. Deportation is too easy.

5 years would be a good " vacation" time for them for violating Thai laws.

THEN

Deport to the Swiss, let them take care of the rest.

[TheFishman1]

So the Switzerland put out an international warrant and probably with all Swiss help they didn’t give the information to the type police that follow up and arrest them that’s amazing cause I thought the title had an international warrant for the Red Bull kid but nobody knows where he is international war for the Prime Minister‘s sister TIT 

[Johno57]

4 hours ago, jvs said:

Are you feeling ok?

Can you imagine how the thousands of lives they have destroyed who would gladly pull the lever. Maybe should be public trial in Saudi Arabia ..and stone  them!!

[GaryPustynskiy]

2 cents on the nationality of the culprits: there's a picture in the news with them sitting on the couch and police officers demonstrating something on their PC-connected TV, maybe an evidence of how malware reveals itself, maybe just a splash screen. This screen is clearly in Russian, with the capitalized word "WARNING" (or literally "ATTENTION") on top. See no reason for this other than they are Russian (maybe holding a temporary Swiss residency).

 

[Ebumbu]

Lesson: don't get greedy. Make a few mil and disappear. 

[iLuvThai]

6 hours ago, brfsa2 said:

Most criminals love Crypto, they keep their crypto wallet locked until they are released.

If this is true then they should be locked up in Thailands worse jail, I suspect it wouldn't be long before they're reconsidering they're lifestyle path that lead then there and working on plea bargains. 

[BusyB]

6 hours ago, Ironmike said:

Scum like this should be locked up for the rest of their lives in a Thai prison,, let's find the worse one they have. 

 

If the US wants them for wire fraud they could have a very long and unhappy future ahead of them in some very unpleasant places with some very unpleasant people.

[GoodieAfterDark]

6 hours ago, Mark989 said:

If they have any sense they will start praising Trump.

DTS? Nope. Trump just pardoned Ross Ulbricht one of the world's largest illegal drug dealers with US$200M in sales worldwide including solicitations of murderers. Yes, plural. 

Ross Ulbricht, aka “Dread Pirate Roberts,” was sentenced in US federal court to life in prison in connection with his operation and ownership of Silk Road, a website designed to enable its users to buy and sell illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services including contract murders anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement between January 2011 and October 2013.

Ulbricht was found guilty of seven charges he faced. 

“Make no mistake: Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions and contributed to the deaths of at least six young people,” said US District Prosecutor Bharara. “Ulbricht went from hiding his cybercrime identity to becoming the face of cybercrime and as today’s sentence proves, no one is above the law.” Except Donald Trump.

 

 

[Jerry777]

7 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

Lock them up in any of Thailand's notoriously nasty prisons. Deportation is too easy.

Pronaaly Russian

[Jerry777]

5 hours ago, Terry Juhlin said:

“ It is assumed they hold Swiss nationality due to their association with Swiss arrest warrants.”

Assumed make an ass out of you and me

[LetsGoJoe]

9 hours ago, brfsa2 said:

The challenge here is the police managing to get their laptops any crypto wallet unlocked.

When it comes to this, the dirty police going to get a back over their head and make them unlock their BTC wallets, only then they get deported back to cheeseland. or like the Silkroad guy, that apparently "suicide" on jail after his BTC wallets got drained.

 

Most criminals love Crypto, they keep their crypto wallet locked until they are released.

 

That "silk road guy", Ross Ulbricht, received a pardon from Trump. The US Government stole his 144,000 BTC , a current market value of around $10 billion.

[Seeall]

9 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

Outta with them. Ban them from entering again

This is the digital age my friend took care of out. They can still target you wherever they are. They need to be locked up here. That's what they need.

[still kicking]

9 hours ago, jvs said:

Are you feeling ok?

Newest prison in OZ

Video | Facebook

There are no walls just a divider no fights no riots touch 

screen TV 

[CLUBBER]

13 hours ago, webfact said:

Photo via Thai News Agency

 

In a decisive operation, Thai authorities arrested four foreign nationals in Phuket, accused of orchestrating a major malware scam that defrauded over 1,000 victims. This sophisticated cybercrime netted losses exceeding US$16 million, equivalent to approximately 560 million Thai baht.

 

The hackers, wanted in Switzerland, fled to Thailand to evade international arrest warrants. Working closely with Swiss officials, the Royal Thai Police (RTP) launched Operation PHOBOS, a collaborative effort spearheaded by the Immigration Bureau and Provincial Police Region 8, to track and apprehend the suspects.

 

The operation culminated in raids across four Phuket locations, including the Mono Palai Private Pool Villa and Supalai Palm Spring. The hackers were caught red-handed, though local authorities have not yet disclosed their identities. It is assumed they hold Swiss nationality due to their association with Swiss arrest warrants.

 

The modus operandi of these cybercriminals involved deploying ransomware to infect and encrypt victims' data. They then demanded a cryptocurrency ransom in exchange for decrypting the data, threatening to leak sensitive personal information if their demands went unmet. This use of digital currency posed additional challenges to those trying to trace and catch them.

 

Photo via Facebook/ THAI PRESS

 

Globally, the group's malware scam entrapped over a thousand unsuspecting individuals, resulting in combined losses of more than US$16 million (560 million baht). Despite being under scrutiny in Switzerland, the group managed to escape to Thailand, continuing their illicit activities until their capture.

 

A comprehensive search of the suspects’ residences uncovered an array of evidence, including mobile phones, laptops, and various digital wallets linked to the cryptocurrency transactions used in their demands.

 

The legal repercussions for these cybercriminals are severe. Switzerland seeks to extradite them, where they face charges of conspiracy to commit offences against the United States and wire fraud. Their prosecution will likely serve as a cautionary tale against digital crime, demonstrating the rigorous pursuit by international authorities.

 

This significant breakthrough in cyber law enforcement comes on the heels of another high-profile extradition from Thailand. Just weeks earlier, a Chinese national was deported to face charges for defrauding victims via a fraudulent loan application, amounting to 112 million yuan (approximately 520 million baht).

 

Together, these arrests underscore the commitment of Thai authorities to collaborate internationally in the fight against cybercrime, ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice irrespective of geographic boundaries, reported The Thaiger.

 

-- 2025-02-11

 

 

Forget deportation , behead them start making examples !

[ifmu]

12 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

Outta with them. Ban them from entering again

AFTER A FEW MONTHS IN THAI JAIL

[Middle Aged Grouch]

The lesson of this is that if you live in some pool villa developpment, keep to yourself. You never know starting from the managment or neighbours, who are the criminals evading what in their respective countries.

[Iron Tongue]

Only stole the equivalent of US$16 million?  I didn't know the Swiss were that small minded!

Those Nigerian Princes steal billions every year, and Chinese fraudsters tens of billions!

Those orderly Swiss probably even filed and paid taxes on their thievings.

[Ricky Koh Samui]

Public stoning by all the people they have scammed!

[jasoneyes]

The new generation of European criminals have arrived in Thailand. They have this notion that Thailand is an easy target to scam other travelers,  along with operating a base to run a criminal network abroad. These young naive criminals come here thinking this is a third world country with poor technology and traceability compared to their homeland. Royal Thai Police have alot more knowledge about "you" when you enter their country than you probably think. Criminals think they are home free because Thai immigration let you in. The criminal becomes trapped and you become a trophy to the RTP. 

[Samh]

On 2/11/2025 at 11:49 AM, brfsa2 said:

The challenge here is the police managing to get their laptops any crypto wallet unlocked.

When it comes to this, the dirty police going to get a back over their head and make them unlock their BTC wallets, only then they get deported back to cheeseland. or like the Silkroad guy, that apparently "suicide" on jail after his BTC wallets got drained.

 

Most criminals love Crypto, they keep their crypto wallet locked until they are released.

 

Another way https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/new-frontier-organised-immigration-crime-and-uk-sanctions

"Action Task Force sets out a typical way in which funds are moved: the migrant, or a family member, may visit a hawala dealer (also known as a hawaladar) to pay a fee in advance of the journey, likely handing them cash. The hawaladar will hold onto the funds and then disburse them to the criminal network once the journey has been completed, usually by contacting a hawaladar in the criminals’ country who will provide them with the same value in cash. Unlike other types of criminal activity, the criminal networks running the smuggling operations may have less control of the end-to-end process, but use a series of providers for different elements of the service, necessitating regular payments to suppliers which may often be sent via the hawala system too. While there are legitimate uses for the hawala system and it often provides the only money transfer solution – for example, for the transfer of migrant remittances – an inherent lack of oversight means that it is easy to exploit, whether to launder money, fund terrorism or evade sanctions. "

[KhunBENQ]

On 2/11/2025 at 12:20 PM, ChipButty said:

In another news outlet it said Russians, 

YES. They are NOT Swiss.

Google translate from Swiss media:

Quote

According to a Thai police commissioner, the four arrested men, all of whom are Russian citizens, were wanted by both the US government and the Swiss Confederation.

 

I would expect they will end in a US high security prison.

 

They ripped 17 Swiss companies.
That's why Switzerland issued the arrest warrant.

Misc international police forces were contributing.