Pattaya —
The tragic suicide of a Thai woman in Pattaya resulted in the arrest of a Russian national accused by police of allegedly operating an unlicensed forex trading business.
The arrest was carried out on Thursday, April 4th, 2024, by various Thai law enforcement agencies, including the Technology Crime Suppression Division. Led by Pol. Maj. Pitchayakorn Tangrod, police arrested a 40-year-old Russian national, identified only as Mr. Alexey, on charges of “jointly operating a payment service business, which is a service for accepting payments by electronic means on behalf of sellers, service providers, or creditors, without permission from the Minister of Finance.”
The arrest was made at a condominium in the Banglamung district, Chonburi province, and was followed by searches of two other properties in the province. Arresting officers confiscated from the suspect 22 company-related documents, 7 laptops, 3 phones, 2 iPads, 14 passbooks, and 8 other items in total.
The investigation was launched after a relative of Ms. Nawaporn (surname withheld), who died by suicide, reported to police that before her death, Ms. Nawaporn had been inviting others to invest in forex trading through her. When others believed her, they gave money to Ms. Nawaporn, who then invested it. However, the investment lost more than 20 million baht, leaving Ms. Nawaporn unable to repay the investors. This caused her great stress and she eventually took her own life.
The forex trading in question involved transferring money for trading through the bank account of a company allegedly linked with Mr. Alexey. The subsequent investigation found that Mr. Alexey had allegedly set up a company and then entered into a contract with a commercial bank to provide services for receiving payment for goods and services. This was done to facilitate the receipt of payments on behalf of those interested in trading or exchanging foreign currency, the arresting police explained.
Many people have fallen victim to the suspect, resulting in huge losses and debts. An investigation of the company’s financial trail found that nearly 100 billion baht had been circulated in the account over a period of three years.
Initially, Mr. Alexey denied all charges and refused to make any statements. He was then taken to the Technology Crime Suppression Division Office for further investigation.
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