Phuket Raids Target Alleged Russian Cybercrime Network

Phuket Raids Target Alleged Russian Cybercrime Network

Thai police carried out coordinated raids at three locations in Phuket as part of a wider crackdown on cybercrime, call-centre scams and mule bank accounts. Officers arrested 26-year-old Russian national Ilya Kutaisov in Wichit under a court warrant and seized 638,700 baht in cash. At a second site in Chalong, police found another Russian national, Igor Stelmak, and confiscated about 4.8 million baht in Thai and US currency. Immigration authorities revoked Stelmak’s permission to remain in Thailand while investigators examined possible links to technology-related crime. Police said the operation recovered more than 5.4 million baht in total and that investigators are still tracing financial records, suspected mule accounts and other people who may have benefited from the network.