Female 'fake CEO' arrested in luxury house for 'selling corporate mule accounts backed by Chinese financier'
A fake CEO who allegedly sold corporate mule accounts backed by a Chinese financier was arrested at her luxury house in Thailand.
Ranwarat, 31, reportedly recruited people to open limited partnership accounts before selling them to criminal networks.
She worked with a Chinese investor, Ah Yao, to recruit more account holders, amassing hundreds of thousands of baht a month before police raided her home in Bangkok, on September 2.
Footage shows cybercrime police storming the large property believed to have been obtained through dirty money.
They found Ranwarat in her office on the second floor, working in front of an expensive Apple monitor.
She was arrested and charged with fraud, entering false data into a computer system, and opening or allowing another person to use her bank accounts.
The Cyber Crime Investigation Burea said the arrest followed a complaint in August by a solar panel business owner in Chanthaburi, who was allegedly scammed into buying 700,000 baht of concertina wire.
Expanded investigations found that the bank account in that case was linked to Ranwarat's mule account network.
During interrogation, Ranwarat allegedly confessed that she needed money before opening a limited partnership account, despite having no real business operations.
She then advertised the account through Facebook groups, earning 80,000 baht.
Realising the scheme was lucrative, she reportedly admitted to recruiting other people to opening similar accounts, which sold for between 80,000 to 150,000 baht each.
Ranwarat said she was later contacted by Chinese suspect Ah Yao through Line and Telegram, and he provided cash, mobile phones, and SIM cards to help her recruit more account holders.
Police Lieutenant General Surapol Prembut, commissioner of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, said the network's accounts were linked to at least 27 cases, with more believed to be unreported.
He added: 'She admitted earning hundreds of thousands of baht a month from working with Ah Yao over the past four to five months.
'We are now tracking down other members of the network and expanding our investigation into the Chinese financier.'
Thailand has become a notorious base for Chinese crime gangs operating fraud and human trafficking operations in neighbouring Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
Many operate from heavily guarded compounds in remote border regions, generating billions through fraud schemes targeting victims worldwide.
