Thailand Police arrest key suspect in $50M crypto-to-gold laundering ring

Police in Thailand arrested a South Korean national suspected of having turned more than $ 50 million in illicit cryptocurrency for the crooks by converting it into gold.

The 33 -year -old suspect, who was identified as Han, was detained at Suvarnabhumi airport in Thailand on August 23. Han would have played a central role in the money laundering for the scam gangs of the call centers by acting as a financial conduit in a cross -border operation which used the crypto to buy gold bars, by gold bars, by gold bars, by gold bars, by gold bars, for Local media reports.

According to authorities, cryptographic portfolios linked to Han treated more than 47 million USDT between January and March 2024. These funds were used to buy gold in at least 30 separate transactions, each agreement involving no less than 10 kilograms of gold.

Investigators from the Suspicted Han Thailand technological crime division worked in close collaboration with gold sellers abroad and facilitated shipments to unidentified scams. His phone, recovered during the arrest, turned out to have access to several cryptocurrency accounts and portfolio newspapers consistent with large-scale money laundering activities.

Han told investigators he had studied in China for six years before taking a job with a South Korean company specializing in the transformation of illicit digital assets into hard products.

Investigators believe that its activities were linked to a wider network of scam call centers that had been active in 2024. The scam network operated by attracting victims with the possibility of making money by performing simple online tasks for which they were even initially paid.

However, the real scam took place when crooks increased the ground, promising yields of victims from 30% to 50% on investments in “projects” based on crypto. In the end, investors would find their accounts frozen and the withdrawals refused.

Ten arrests, and more anticipated

Before Han’s capture, Thai police had already made ten arrests as part of the scam. Five of the suspects were accused of money laundering, while the others would have exploited bank accounts of mules used to collect depots of victims.

According to the commander of the TCSD Pol Maj Gen Athip Phongsiwapai, Han was wanted for fraud, identity theft and money laundering.

For the moment, he remains in detention and the investigators say that they examine the new tracks found on the devices recovered during the arrest.

Thailand’s survey coincides with a wider wave of application. Last month, a Beijing court sentenced Seven people in a laundering case of $ 20 million involving a former video platform employee who diverted funds and channeled them by eight exchanges of offshore crypto.

The previous month, a Russian crypto entrepreneur was charge by the United States Ministry of Justice for their role in permission from a crypto money laundering program of $ 500 million.