• Police arrested a 37-year-old man known as Winai, nickname Bo, at Klong Prem Central Prison, Bangkok, on 3 November 2026.
  • The warrant concerns accounts that received money from a romance-investment scam with one victim losing 10,118,133.51 baht.
  • He allegedly opened four accounts in Poipet, Cambodia, for 20,000 baht in total, and says he thought they were for gambling.
  • Police say they are widening the probe to the rest of the network.

Thai police arrested a 37-year-old man identified as Winai, nickname Bo, at the gate of Klong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok at about 08:30 on 3 November, shortly after he finished a sentence in a separate fraud case, Amarin TV reported on 4 November, relaying a Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) statement. The warrant concerns bank accounts that received money from a romance-investment scam in which one victim lost 10,118,133.51 baht.

DII has not seen the warrant or the police statement; the account rests on Amarin TV and Bangkok Biz News. The dating angle is indirect: the scam began on Facebook, and no dating company is named. Operators should still pay attention, because the romance-to-investment tactics described here are ones their safety teams should recognise. We covered a separate Thai and Korean arrest round earlier.

The DII Take

Police reached the account opener, not whoever ran the fake profile. That is where enforcement can bite. Platforms and apps sit upstream of the mule, and the early-withdrawal trick police warned about is a trust mechanism that any dating product's safety team should recognise.

How the scam allegedly worked

According to Amarin TV, the victim met the scammers on Facebook and entered a relationship with a fake profile. They were then drawn into investing in an online shop through a fake website called 'LeLong Shopping'. Early withdrawals worked, which built trust, until the victim transferred more and withdrawals stopped.

Bangkok Biz News says the first real withdrawal was 4,304.88 baht. The victim complained to Cyber Crime Suppression Division 1 (CCSD 1), and tracing showed the money passed through an account in the suspect's name.

The suspect's account

Amarin TV says he confessed in initial questioning. He said that in 2024, while unemployed, a friend offered him 5,000 baht per account to open accounts in Poipet, Cambodia, where he opened four by facial scan and was paid 20,000 baht in total. He said he crossed the border illegally by a natural route.

He said he thought the accounts were for online gambling. Police were not convinced, citing the border crossing, his earlier fraud case and the size of the loss. Bangkok Biz News reports the warrant, no. 263/2569, was issued by the Phra Khanong Criminal Court on 23 March 2026.

The warrant concerns bank accounts that received money from a romance-investment scam in which one victim lost 10,118,133.51 baht.

What to watch

The Thai government said on 23 June, per Asia News Network, that a nine-month crackdown had closed 351,884 mule accounts and led to 29,233 arrests. The Nation reported that Facebook was the channel in more than 61% of cases in the first half of 2026, according to the Thailand Consumers Council. Watch whether the widened CCSD 1 probe produces charges against recruiters.

  • Thai police are targeting mule account openers, with the alleged opener arrested on 3 November over a 10.1M baht romance-investment loss.
  • The Thailand Consumers Council said Facebook carried more than 61% of Thai online fraud cases in early 2026, so romance-to-investment funnels often begin outside dating apps.
  • Charges against recruiters in the widened CCSD 1 probe would show whether enforcement reaches beyond account openers.

Sources: พ้นโทษ 0 วินาที! คอมมานโดรวบ "โบ่ บัญชีม้า" คาประตูเรือนจำ (Amarin TV); ชวนคุยผ่านเฟซบุ๊ก หลอกรักชวนลงทุน เสียค่าโง่ 10 ล้าน บุกจับที่จตุจักร (Bangkok Biz News); Police crackdown on 'mule accounts' aims to cut off 100-billion-baht scam network (The Nation Thailand); Thailand seizes US$728mil as scam and nominee crackdown widens (Asia News Network); Online scam losses in Thailand approach THB9 billion over six months (The Nation Thailand)