ENDSI 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
published: 7/31/2024 4:32:03 PM updated: 8/14/2024 3:05:20 PM 104 views
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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.
