Woman arrested over mule accounts used in B50m swindle
SONGKHLA: A woman wanted by police for having mule accounts to facilitate fraud, which caused more than 50 million baht worth of damage to victims, was arrested in Rattaphum district of this southern province.
Pol Maj Gen Supakorn Chanthabutr, commander of the Special Service Division, led police to arrest Ms Tawanna Tarawasant, 55, at a house in tambon Khuan Ru yesterday.
Warrants for her arrest were issued by the Surat Thani Provincial Court and the Phuket Provincial Court for colluding in public fraud and inputting false information into a computer system.
Ms Tawanna allegedly opened mule bank accounts for scammers who duped people into buying non-existent products online.
She has denied being involved in the fraud.
Ms Tawanna told police that she opened a bank account for a close friend who ran a firm selling construction materials in Surat Thani several years ago. She said she did not know her friend had got involved in fraud. At the time, she was arrested for fraud in 2018 and released from jail in 2022.
While serving her jail term, she said she met other people who had allegedly been deceived by her friend into opening mule accounts.
Ms Tawanna said she only became aware of the additional arrest warrants against her when police came to her house on Thursday. She claimed she did not flee because she had never swindled anyone, and she earned her living by selling artwork online.
A criminal record showed that Ms Tawanna had five arrest warrants for public fraud. Two warrants were from Muang police station in Udon Thani, two more from Muang station in Surat Thani and another from Muang station in Phuket.
She was later handed over to police in Surat Thani for further legal action. Police are seeking to arrest those who hired her to open those mule accounts.