Thai Couple Duped Children into Becoming Money Mules for Gambling Websites

Thai police have accused a couple of recruiting children to become money mules for online gambling operators and using violence to coerce them into silence.

The Thai media outlets Thairath and MGR Online reported that the Technology Crime Suppression Division 4 (TCSD 4) carried out a court warrant to arrest a network of suspected cash and card mules who reportedly worked with online gambling websites and voice phishing rings.

Officers think the couple and one other woman helped mastermind the network. They said that the trio and others helped recruit people to open bank accounts. In exchange, they gave children one-off payments of 3,000 baht ($91).

The network managers then allegedly sold these accounts to gambling website operators at a huge markup. Police said they charged gambling operators 30,000 baht ($921) per account.

Most of the people they allegedly recruited “were children and teenagers,” police said. Officers also said that over the past two months, the network masterminds “threatened and physically assaulted children” in a bid to keep their operation secret.

Thai Gambling-linked Money Mules Laundered Millions of Dollars

The TCSD 4 probe is connected to a broader investigation into cash and card mules. Officers think the masterminds sold their services to online gambling website operators and voice phishing gangs in Mae Sai District.

Police also think the gang was active in the Chiang Rai Province, as well as on the Thai-Myanmar border, the Chiang Saen District, and the border between Thailand and Laos.

Hotbed of Gambling-Related Crime

Southeast Asian nations have complained that border areas have become a hotbed of crime, particularly gambling-related offenses.

The UN has also issued a warning about the rise of international crime groups in Southeast Asian casino and betting operations.

They say that large criminal syndicates have moved into areas that are often poorly policed.

Police arrested the couple in the Mueang Chiang Rai District, with the other female suspect detained in the Chiang Saen District of Chiang Rai Province.

Officers added that they had questioned a “large number of children and young adults” as part of their investigation.

However, police said they were not looking to prosecute children. Instead, officers said they were speaking to the young suspects to “gather information.”

The investigation also revealed that criminals used the accounts to process a monthly total of over 100 million baht ($3.07 million).

TCSD 4 is a Royal Thai Police unit charged with handling cybercrime. Its remit includes illegal online gambling platforms, scams, fraud, money laundering, and illegal streaming-related crime.