Briefly
- Thai police arrested Chinese language nationwide Tianwei at Don Mueang Airport on June 12 for allegedly stealing $6.15 million in Bitcoin.
- The arrest adopted an April criticism and a Could 16 warrant after Tianwei vanished from a enterprise deal in Chiang Rai.
- It’s the newest in a sequence of Asian crypto fraud busts, together with main instances in Vietnam and India.
Thai immigration police arrested a Chinese language fugitive at Don Mueang Airport Thursday morning as he tried to flee to Singapore, ending a manhunt related to tens of millions in stolen Bitcoin.
The person, Tianwei, was arrested at 6 a.m. native time (7 p.m. ET) on Thursday on the worldwide departure terminal as he tried to board Lion Air flight SL100, in accordance with a report by native information outlet Khaosod English.
The airport intercept ended a month-long manhunt that started when two Chinese language victims reported shedding $6.15 million (200 million baht) in Bitcoin to the suspect after a enterprise assembly in Mae Sai district.
Chiang Rai Provincial Courtroom issued the arrest warrant on Could 16. Intelligence stories indicated Tianwei would try and flee the nation, prompting authorities to alert Don Mueang immigration officers.
The suspect reportedly communicated in English throughout his arrest. Sergeant Suwaphan Utsaha, commander of the Don Mueang Immigration checkpoint, served as an interpreter to tell him of his rights and the fees towards him.
Tianwei confirmed his identification and instructed officers he had by no means been arrested on this case earlier than.
Thailand’s notoriously powerful stance on international fraud suspects means Tianwei faces a grim future, in accordance with Archer Wolfe, founding father of the crypto consultancy agency MohrWolfe and a former resident of Thailand.
“It is no shock that Thai immigration continues cracking down on fraud amongst foreigners—they’re well-known for his or her hardcore measures,” Wolfe instructed Decrypt. “Nevertheless, as soon as they’re suspicious of you, and also you get caught, they’ll dissect your whole life, beginning along with your smartphone and each dialog you’ve in it.”
Wolfe predicted harsh penalties, saying that the suspect “goes to be extradited again to China” and “the Thai authorities is then going to maintain that Bitcoin until an exorbitant payment is paid and easily shut the guide.”
Crypto crackdown in Asia
The arrest comes amid a regional crackdown on crypto fraud that has netted lots of of tens of millions in seized belongings throughout Asia.
India’s Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Delhi resident Rahul Arora on Tuesday and seized over $327,000 in crypto from a cybercrime operation focusing on U.S. and Canadian victims via caller ID spoofing and social engineering.
Final month, Vietnamese authorities dismantled the Matrix Chain pyramid scheme after a 200-day investigation, arresting 5 suspects accused of defrauding 185,000 victims out of practically $400 million.
In February, Thai and Chinese language police teamed up to arrest two Chinese language nationals and seize $2.5 million price of Tether’s USDT stablecoin from a large-scale rip-off operation.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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