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Agence France-Presse

Police in Thailand have arrested an Indonesian who allegedly defrauded Americans of about US$10 million, Thai authorities say, adding that they will extradite him to the United States.
The 33-year-old Indonesian man was arrested on Friday at a luxury resort in the coastal town of Phuket after a tip-off from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Suriya Poungsombat of the national immigration police said on Sunday.
The FBI had informed Thai authorities that the suspect left Dubai and travelled to the Southeast Asian nation on Wednesday, according to Suriya.
After his arrest, the man was sent to an immigration detention centre in the capital Bangkok and was awaiting extradition to the United States, he said.

“The FBI said he was wanted for committing fraud against Americans of about US$10 million,” he added.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another Thai immigration police officer told local media that the suspect allegedly hired models to lure targets into phoney investment schemes over video calls, dating apps and social media, and he managed the scams from the United Arab Emirates.
Southeast Asia has emerged as a hotspot for cyberscam operations in recent years, with organised criminal groups using casinos, hotels and fortified compounds in the region as bases to carry out sophisticated online cons.
Cyberscammers have defrauded victims around the world of tens of billions of dollars annually, often through fake cryptocurrency investments and phoney romantic relationships.


But fraudsters and their associates are also believed to have expanded outside the region.
According to a 2025 report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, foreign workers in the UAE have been “lured into scam work in Southeast Asia”, suggesting “Dubai is becoming a global hub for recruitment and trafficking linked to the cyber-enabled fraud industry”.
The UAE, the report adds, “has been targeted as a base for individuals involved in the laundering of funds acquired through illicit online activity, many of whom have purchased property in Dubai”.


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US slaps sanctions on Cambodian senator suspected of controlling scam centres

America offers US$4 million bounty for arrest of Chinese money launderer

Thailand

Waves crash on Kalim beach in Phuket. The suspect was arrested from a luxury resort on the Thai island. Photo: Shutterstock

A Thai soldier stands guard near scam compounds in the O’Smach area at the Thailand-Cambodia border crossing on April 7. Photo: Reuters

Equipment used at a scam centre in Phnom Penh in March. This year Cambodia has conducted the largest crackdown on scam bases since the crisis emerged during the pandemic. Photo: AP

A Thai soldier walks inside a workstation inside a compound in O’Smach used for scam operations, at the Chong Chom-O’Smach border crossing, on April 7. Photo: Reuters

Cambodia has a new law targeting scams, but is it just another ‘paper reform’?

Computers and workstations seized by police during an online scam crackdown at a hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in March. Photo: Reuters

Cambodian Justice Minister Keut Rith says the new law will ensure there will be no more online scams in the country. Photo: EPA

Li Xiong arrives at an airport in handcuffs and escorted off a China Southern Airlines plane following his extradition from Cambodia on April 1. Photo: China’s Ministry of Public Security / AFP

Fake app drains Filipino retiree’s life savings via ‘malware-as-a-service’

“Malware-as-a-service” seizes control of a user’s phone after gaining entry through a fraudulent app, monitoring use in real-time and harvesting data such as fingerprints. Photo: Shutterstock

Workers walk out of a suspected scam centre compound in Sihanoukville on January 15. The Cambodian coastal city has long been notorious as a cyber-fraud hub. Photo: AFP

Malaysia’s content creators battle AI abuse as deepfakes, scam ads spread online

Many creators in Malaysia have become newly vulnerable to the AI threat because they now have little choice but to put themselves online to make a living, experts warn. Photo: Shutterstock

Khairul Aming’s likeness and cloned voice were used in a fake advertisement asking viewers to buy a product to help him recover from flood damage at his factory. Photo: handout

Malaysia’s Online Safety Act introduced new platform-level obligations aimed at tackling harmful content including scams, obscene material and abusive communications. Photo: dpa

As Cambodia’s scam crackdown deadline looms, criminal gangs flee

A Thai soldier shines a torch into a room disguised as a Chinese police station inside an abandoned scam centre on the Thai-Cambodian border on March 12. Photo: AFP

A Cambodian military official shows computer equipment seized from raided cyberscam centres on March 11. Photo: AFP

Armed police escort Chen Zhi off a plane in January following his extradition from Cambodia in this screen grab from a video. Photo: China’s Ministry of Public Security/AFP

Detained scam centre suspects sleep at a police station in Phnom Penh on March 11. Photo: AFP

A room damaged by border clashes is seen inside an abandoned scam centre in O’Smach town on the Thai-Cambodian border on March 12. Photo: AFP

A group of Indonesian nationals removed from scam compounds are seen being deported via Techo International Airport earlier this month. Photo: Aidan Jones

Cambodian authorities display IDs and equipment seized from scam centres at a building in Phnom Penh on March 11. Photo: EPA

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

The suspect allegedly hired models to lure targets into phoney investment schemes over video calls, dating apps and social media


The suspect allegedly hired models to lure targets into phoney investment schemes over video calls, dating apps and social media.


Thailand to extradite Indonesian man in US$10 million scam targeting Americans

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The suspect allegedly hired models to lure targets into phoney investment schemes over video calls, dating apps and social media

The suspect allegedly hired models to lure targets into phoney investment schemes over video calls, dating apps and social media