Cyber police arrested a 26-year-old woman suspected of belonging to a scam network that tricked victims into installing a money-draining app, resulting in losses exceeding 3.4 million baht.
On 1 April 2026, Pol. Lt. Gen. Suraphol Prembutr, Commander of the Cyber Crime Division, along with Pol. Lt. Gen. Naradet Thiprak, Police Commander attached to the Office of the Royal Thai Police, assigned Pol. Maj. Gen. Siriwat Deepor, Commander of Cyber Crime Division 1, Pol. Col. Rojsak Naiphongsri, Superintendent of Division 2, and Pol. Lt. Col. Chukiat Chatarupa, Inspector of Division 2, to lead a team with an arrest warrant No. 673/2569 from the Criminal Court to apprehend Ms. Chutima Manachit, 26, from Surat Thani Province, a suspect in a scammer gang.
In March 2023, a 42-year-old female victim from Bangkok, a business owner, received a phone call from a fraudster claiming to represent a major retail tourism company. The caller said the victim was eligible for special discounts on products, provided she added a friend on the LINE app and installed the company's application. Believing this, the victim added the scammer on LINE.
She then installed the application. While installing, the scammer spoke to her on the phone, instructing her on specific settings. During the installation, the victim’s phone screen froze and became unresponsive, though the call with the scammer continued uninterrupted.
The scammer instructed the victim not to do anything with the phone, saying the installation was nearly complete. Distrusting this, the victim tried to exit the app installation and quickly powered off the phone but was unable to. Convinced she was being scammed, she promptly removed the SIM card from the phone.
She then checked her bank accounts linked to the phone's app and found that four transfers totaling 3,417,000 baht had been made. She reported the incident to cyber police to pursue legal action against the perpetrators.
Investigators traced the stolen funds being transferred through multiple mule accounts. Collecting sufficient evidence, they obtained court approval to issue arrest warrants for three suspects involved.
Ms. Chutima was identified as part of the scammer network who opened accounts to receive money from victims. She was arrested in Nob Phitam District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, and initially confessed.
She is being charged with multiple offenses including unauthorized use of electronic cards likely to cause damage, theft, unauthorized access to protected computer systems, and malicious alteration of computer data causing property damage. She is currently held for legal proceedings.