Crime
Woman Busted for Facilitating US$1.3 Million Scam with Mule Accounts
A woman wanted for having mule accounts to facilitate fraud, which cost victims more than US$1.3 million, has been apprehended in Rattaphum district of Songkhla in southern Thailand.
Pol Maj Gen Supakorn Chanthabutr, chief of the Special Service Division, led police to arrest Ms Tawanna Tarawasant, 55, at a residence in Tambon Khuan Ru on Friday.
The woman was wanted on arrest warrants issued by the Surat Thani Provincial Court and the Phuket Provincial Court for committing public fraud and entering incorrect information into a computer system.
Ms Tawanna allegedly set up mule bank accounts for scammers who misled consumers into purchasing non-existent things online.
The suspect denied involvement in the fraud. She told police that she used to open a bank account for a close friend who owns a building materials company in Surat Thani several years back. She stated that she was unaware that her acquaintance had become involved in fraud. She was arrested for fraud in 2018 and freed from jail in 2022.
While completing her jail sentence, she encountered other people who had reportedly been duped by her buddy into opening mule accounts.
Ms Tawanna stated that she only got aware of the new arrest warrants against her when police arrived at her house on Thursday. The former felon said she never fled because she had never defrauded anyone and made a living by selling artwork online.
Ms Tawanna’s criminal record revealed that she had five arrest warrants for public fraud. Two warrants came from the Muang police station in Udon Thani, two more from the Muang station in Surat Thani, and one from the Muang station in Phuket.
According to the authorities, the opening of mule accounts by scammers caused victims to lose around 50 million baht.
She was later turned over to police in Surat Thani for legal proceedings. The investigation was expanded to include arresting people who hired the suspect to open the mule accounts.
Mule bank accounts in Thailand are illegal financial conduits that transport money from illegitimate sources. They are established up using stolen identities or shell corporations, allowing crooks to “park” dirty money and move it secretly.
Banks struggle to detect these hidden accounts because the criminals employ sophisticated layering techniques to hide their trails. Thai law enforcement works relentlessly to shut down mule bank account networks, seizing millions from organized crime each year.
