DSI and Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior, apprehended 2 suspects of online gambling mule accounts/copyright infringement network causing damages over 2.9 billion baht

DSI and Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior, apprehended 2 suspects of online gambling mule accounts/copyright infringement network causing damages over 2.9 billion baht

Under the Prime Minister’s government policy with key objective to ensure justice and promote transparency in the society by intensifying the suppression of financial crime involving mule accounts and money laundering for every kind of online gambling, and by enforcing special case laws to speed up the strict crime suppression including the control and prevention of copyright infringement in all aspects.

Pol.Maj. Yutthana Praedam, Acting Director General of DSI and Pol.Lt.Col. Phayao Thongsen, Deputy Director General of DSI, assigned Mr. Khemachart Prakaihongmanee, Director of the Bureau of Technology and Cyber Crime, to investigate and gather evidence of wrongdoings related to online gambling that has been laundering money via mule accounts. The investigation revealed a network infringing the copyrights of Premier League Football by broadcasting live football matches on various websites without permission. The copyright infringing broadcastings were not paid services, but free service to attract people to access the websites and gamble via their banners or advertisement on the websites. Some websites would require you to directly login to the gambling websites in order to watch the matches. These websites were linked to the online gambling websites in the neighboring countries. Many Thais and foreigners who were poor and had no stable job were paid to open over 100 bank accounts for receiving gambling money.

On July 31, 2024, Pol.Maj. Yutthana Praedam, Acting Director General of DSI and Pol.Lt.Col. Phayao Thongsen, Deputy Director General of DSI, Mr. Khemachart Prakaihongmanee, Director of the Bureau of Technology and Cyber Crime, and DSI officials joined forces with officers of the Department of Provincial Administration to search 21 spots in the areas of Sa Kaeo, Rayong, Saraburi provinces, Bangkok Metropolitan Region to arrest the network of mule accounts linked to the gambling websites with nearly 1 billion baht in circulating capital. The websites that infringed on the copyrights of the Football Association Premier League Limited (injured person) included Tvsod.com, Bee789.com, Ballza.com, 7mscorethai.com, 7mscorethai.net, Dooballdotlink.com, Suckballhd.com, Amloin789.com, and 7upth.com with over 2.9 billion baht in damages. The operation team searched the buildings related to the alleged offenders and arrested 2 alleged offenders under the arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court, Mr. Athiwat (surname withheld) and Mr. Yutthapong (surname withheld) in front of Songkhla Provincial Court, Bo Yang Subdistrict, Mueang Songkhla District, Songkhla Province, for the offence of jointly infringing the copyright of others for commercial benefits by broadcasting cinematographic works and artistic works to the public without authorization. Both alleged offenders were programmers and the ones using mule accounts to transfer money for hacking servers in order to broadcast the Premier League Football matches without authorization. Besides acting as an admin, Mr. Yutthapong (alleged offender) also used the mule accounts to receive money from gambling websites.

During the search, evidence related to bank accounts were discovered and seized for further proceedings. Moreover, many locations were found to be accommodations for foreigners and starting points for foreigners to open mule accounts.

Regarding this search and arrest operation, the Department of Special Investigation informs the alleged offender under the arrest warrants to surrender themselves or provide information in order to undergo the justice procedures, as the DSI shall not make an exception for any offenders under any circumstance.

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