Nakhon Phanom Immigration officers arrested two Vietnamese men from a scam gang that defrauded a female student of a well-known university, causing her to transfer over 2 million baht out of her bank accounts.
On 30 Jul 2026 GMT+7, Pol. Lt. Gen. Panumas Boonylak, Commander of the Immigration Bureau, along with Pol. Maj. Gen. Panthana Nuchnarot, Deputy Commander, ordered Pol. Maj. Gen. Praich Pukcharoen, Commander of Immigration Division 4, and Pol. Col. Chatchai Samniang, Chief of Nakhon Phanom Immigration Police, together with the investigative team from Division 4, Technology Crime Suppression Division 2, to arrest Nguyen Van Ngoc, 33, and Nguyen Van Tu, 39, both Vietnamese nationals, under arrest warrants No. 902 and 903/2569 dated 19 Jun 2026 GMT+7 issued by Nonthaburi Provincial Court.
They are charged with "participating in a transnational organized crime group, being part of a criminal gang, involvement in fraud by impersonating others, producing and using forged official documents, unauthorized use of official emblems, fraudulently introducing distorted or false computer data likely to cause public harm, conspiracy between two or more persons to commit money laundering, and jointly committing money laundering."
In March, a female student from a prominent university was contacted by scammers claiming to be employees of a mobile phone service provider. They said her information had been used to open new phone accounts for illegal transactions. The call was then transferred to a man claiming to be a police officer from Samet Police Station, Chonburi province.
The suspects threatened and intimidated the victim into believing she had committed a crime and would face prosecution. They forced her to lock herself in her room and prohibited contact with anyone else, even requiring her to keep a video call open at all times to prove she was not communicating with others. They then tricked her into transferring all funds from two bank accounts to five accounts controlled by the criminals, totaling 2,495,636 baht. Once the victim realized she had been scammed, she reported the incident to cybercrime police.
Later, Pol. Col. Tosak Panklinphut, Chief of Division 4, Technology Crime Suppression Division 2, and his investigative team gathered evidence and identified Nguyen Van Ngoc and Nguyen Van Tu as members of the scam gang responsible for opening mule accounts. They obtained arrest warrants accordingly.
Nakhon Phanom Immigration Police arrested both suspects on 29 Jul 2026 GMT+7 while they were attempting to cross the permanent border checkpoint at the Third Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge (Nakhon Phanom–Kham Muan) to enter Laos. The suspects were taken into custody and handed over to Pol. Lt. Patrawat Pachiraphipatphon, an investigator at Division 4, Technology Crime Suppression Division 2, to proceed with legal actions.