CHONBURI — CIB and FBI take down global cybercrime ring, which was likely the world’s largest, with money laundering operations in Thailand
Earlier the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that an international law enforcement team has arrested Wang Yunhe, 35, a Chinese national, and disrupted the “911 S5” botnet — a network of malware-infected computers in nearly 200 countries — which was likely the world’s largest.
On June 1, Pol. Lt. Gen. Jiraphop Phuridej, Commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, announced the results of cooperation between Thai police and the United States. Officers from the Crime Suppression Division of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) together with Mr. Mike Chai, an FBI agent stationed in Thailand, expanded the investigation and made additional arrests of suspects in Thailand.
Officers searched a target house on Phra Tam Nak Road, Nong Prue Subdistrict, Bang Lamung District, Chonburi Province, and three condominium rooms in Moo 1, Na Jomtien Subdistrict, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province. They found 7.5 million baht in cash, both Thai and foreign currencies, 13 luxury watches including 3 AUDEMARS PIGUET watches worth over 30 million baht, 23 pieces of jewelry worth over 50 million baht.
In addition, there was a black BMW X7 M50d, land title deeds and land purchase agreements, condominium deeds, bank accounts of Mr. Wang Yunhe and Spicy Code c]t company, data storage devices, flash drives containing encryption key data or encryption passwords.
Officers seized and confiscated all assets and sent all involved persons to the investigators at Sub-Division 2, Central Investigation Bureau for further action. Wang Yunhe was arrested on May 24 in Singapore.
This operation was a global collaboration to eradicate cybercrime that uses malware-installed devices along with tools to conceal the location of the criminal network, known as 911 S5. Mr. Wang and his Chinese associates founded and maintained the core system of 911 S5. The rest were responsible for managing documents, financial transactions, and setting up three companies for money laundering in Thailand.
The investigation revealed that the suspects’ network hacked IP addresses of 19 million computers in over 190 countries worldwide, causing massive damage.
This included defrauding a large amount of money from U.S. government agencies by hacking into American citizens’ computers, applying for various welfare assistance, but when the government approved the aid, it was transferred to the criminals’ accounts without the American individuals’ knowledge or receipt of the money.
They also hacked to steal money, cryptocurrencies, launch ransomware cyberattacks by blocking the operations of large organizations and demanding ransom in exchange for restoring the systems.
Cybercriminals also used this channel to exploit child pornography and make bomb threats to create panic among the general public. At the same time, these criminals laundered money obtained from the offenses, profiting tens of millions of U.S. dollars before using it to purchase real estate, vehicles, and other assets in many countries, one of which is Thailand.
Most of the assets that the criminal group obtained from the crimes and transformed in Thailand are real estate and various companies, with a total value of over 1 billion baht.
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