Thai Official Reportedly Connected to Cyber Scam Loses Job
Deputy Minister’s wife allegedly received millions in cyber currency
Vorapak Tanyawong, named deputy finance minister in the minority Bhumjaithai coalition that came to power in Thailand only last month, has been forced out of his job over his reported connections to a controversial South African fixer allegedly deeply involved in the notorious Chinese-Cambodian cybercrime racket.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul was also forced to backtrack on a report he had appointed Vorapak to a special government committee investigating the criminal cyber networks, which have turned Cambodia into a global hub of pig-butchering and lovelorn scams.
The network reportedly paid Vorapak’s wife the equivalent of US$3 million in cryptocurrency, although in his departing statement, he denied his and his wife’s involvement and threatened to sue. His ouster from the task force reverses Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas’s statement earlier this month that Vorapak would lead the effort to follow the money trail left by scam centers across Southeast Asia.
Vorapak, the former managing director of Krung Thai Bank, the country’s third-largest, was already under fire over allegations of loan irregularities during his tenure at the bank in addition to his connections to the network controlled by Benjamin Mauerberger, 47, who maintained close connections to both Thai former Prime Minister-power broker Thaksin Shinawatra and the Cambodian ruling family headed by patriarch Hun Sen.
Vorapak’s is the first head to fall in Thailand, which has been wracked by reports of the scandal by the investigative website Whale Hunting, headed by former Wall Street Journal reporters Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, and by reporting by Asia Sentinel.
The Thai politicians have been caught in a widening circle of corruption involving Mauerberger, who reportedly bought a US$60 million corporate jet for Thaksin. According to Whale Hunting, Mauerberger’s network secretly gained control of 52 percent of Thai finance company Finansia X PCL, “creating an illegal pipeline between crypto and traditional banking, according to the reports.
So far, at least seven Thai politicians have been implicated in involvement with transnational scam networks in Cambodia. In addition to Thaksin himself, Thammanat Prompao, who was named deputy prime minister in Anutin’s government despite having served six years in an Australian prison after he was convicted of conspiring to import heroin into the country in March 1946, is also said to be connected to the cybercrime affair although he has denied it and threatened to sue. Mauerberger, who is said to use the aliases Ben Smith and Benjamin Berger, reportedly has left Thailand. He continues to maintain links to political figures in Cambodia and has also threatened to sue.
Regional crime crisis
As Asia Sentinel reported on October 21, South Korean officials are asking the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to push for regional cooperation against online scam operations in Cambodia, in an indication of growing recognition that Asean has a huge problem as a global epicenter of cybercrime.
Hundreds of South Korean citizens have reportedly disappeared into these online scam centers, lured to what they thought were high-paying job offers that turned into criminal bondage in which they are forced to cajole their homeland compatriots into parting with their savings. Hundreds of South Koreans were repatriated from scam centers earlier this year.
Online gaming, lovelorn scams, and so-called pig butchering have been called perhaps the most dominant economic activity in the entire Mekong sub-region, equivalent to nearly half of total GDP in the primary host countries.
Tens of thousands of kidnapped or misled victims are reportedly forced by these Chinese gangs to work scamming victims worldwide, raking in billions annually, not only in Cambodia but also in Myanmar and Laos as well. In Myanmar, the junta recently raided a multiple-building compound, detaining more than 2,000 workers and seizing Starlink receivers and accessories. In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in 2024 ordered dozens of Chinese online gaming operations out of the country after huge scam operations were discovered employing hundreds of detained workers. In 2023, the crisis spread to Singapore, which busted the biggest money laundering ring in the country’s history.
Unfortunately, as countries discover the extent to which they are corrupting local officials and impoverishing victims and shut them down, the operations decamp for new countries including Pacific Island nations, where they reopen to claim new victims.
The United Nations earlier this year said cybercrime syndicates are still expanding due to illicit online marketplaces using cryptocurrencies. It also noted the shift from land-based internet connections to the use of Starlink, the satellite internet constellation operated by Starlink Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace company SpaceX controlled by mega-billionaire Elon Musk.
Earlier today, in a development connected to the spreading scandal, Thailand’s parliamentary delegation to the 151st Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Geneva, in response to efforts by members of Bhumjaithai’s coalition partner People’s Power, introduced a resolution titled “Parliamentary action against transnational organized crime, cybercrime, and hybrid threats to democracy and human security” that Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, who led described as a “marks a historic milestone,” adding that “This issue represents one of the gravest threats to humanity today. Therefore, it is not only a victory for the Thai Parliament or Thailand itself but also a victory for people around the world. Thailand may be a small country, but this motion addresses a major global concern.”
Once approved, the resolution will be circulated to parliaments and relevant organizations worldwide for practical implementation.
“Thailand is not only working for its own country but also for the global community,” Wan Noor told local media. “Scam operations have destroyed tens of thousands of lives, with victims being detained, forced into labor, and tortured. The financial losses amount to hundreds of billions of baht.”