Picture courtesy of สายข่าวพัทยา

 

Pattaya police have arrested two key suspects connected to a Chinese-led call centre fraud syndicate, catching them in the act of withdrawing millions of baht in cash at a popular shopping mall.

 

Pol Maj Gen Thawatchkiat Jindakwananong, Commander of Chonburi Provincial Police, together with senior officers from Pattaya City Police Station and the Transnational Crime Suppression Centre, led the operation at Krungthai Bank, Central Marina, Pattaya Second Road, Bang Lamung district.

 

The suspects were named as Kanlaya “Benz” Chinrat, 29, of Rayong, who held the bank accounts used in the scam and Kee Edmun, 25, a Malaysian national who acted as her minder and cash handler.

 

The arrests followed a tip-off from Krungthai Bank’s Financial Crime Investigation Unit, which had detected unusual large-scale cash withdrawals linked to online fraud. Investigators coordinated with police after discovering plans to withdraw nearly one million baht from Krungthai Bank in Pattaya.

 

Under surveillance, officers observed Kanlaya leaving the bank to meet Kee before both attempted further transactions at Siam Commercial Bank inside the same mall. Police intervened after discovering that she had tried to withdraw ฿980,000, but the account had already been frozen.

 

Further checks revealed that Kanlaya had earlier withdrawn over ฿1.15 million in two separate transactions at Siam Commercial Bank the same day, handing the money to Kee, who then passed it to their Chinese boss, identified as Wang Zhiyuan, 23. Police believe Wang is the ringleader of the local network.

 

A search uncovered evidence including three bank books (Krungthai, SCB and TMBThanachart) showing balances of ฿980,000 and ฿5,918, along with two mobile phones (an iPhone 14 Pro Max and an Oppo). Immigration records showed Kee had entered Thailand on 26 August with permission to stay until 24 October.

 

Investigators traced the seized funds to victims of a call centre scam in Phitsanulok, where people had been duped into transferring money as part of a fake investment scheme. Kanlaya admitted she had been paid ฿20,000 by a Thai broker to open mule accounts for the gang, while Kee was tasked with shadowing her and collecting the withdrawals for Wang.

 

However, police confirmed that Wang fled Thailand shortly after learning of the arrests, booking an urgent flight abroad.

 

Both suspects face multiple charges including public fraud, using mule accounts, offences under the Computer Crime Act and money laundering. They have been remanded for legal proceedings while efforts continue to track down the gang’s Chinese mastermind.

 

 

  Adapted by Asean Now from สายข่าวพัทยา  2025-09-05

 

 

 

Some of us  are limited to 50.000 a day.