BANGKOK: A 40-year-old woman has been arrested in Chaiyaphum, northeastern Thailand, for allegedly opening a mule bank account linked to Cambodia-based scammers who defrauded beauty queen Charlotte Austin of four million baht (RM519,804).
Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau acting commissioner Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phewphan said on Sunday that the suspect, identified as Parichat, was detained on Saturday.
Phewphan said the suspect and her husband were illegally transported from Sa Kaeo, eastern Thailand, into Cambodia before the scam took place, the Bangkok Post reported.
Last week, Austin, 25, held a press conference where she recounted receiving a call on Dec 7 from a man posing as an official from the Special Investigation Department.
The caller accused her of involvement in money laundering and instructed her to transfer four million baht to "verify" her innocence.
The Thai-British beauty queen, who was the 5th runner-up in Miss Grand Thailand 2022, followed the instructions and made three transfers totalling four million baht.
However, she never received the promised return of her money.
Meanwhile, Bangkok Post said the suspect, upon arriving in Cambodia, was taken to a building operated by a Chinese-led scam gang and was paid 3,500 baht to open a bank account for the gang, with her face scanned as part of the registration process.
The suspect also told authorities the building housed around 20 Thailand nationals and included mock offices set up to resemble those of Thailand authorities, which were run by scammers.
Meanwhile, Phewphan said the stolen money was transferred into the suspect's account, converted into digital currency and forwarded to an account belonging to a Chinese suspect. Investigations into the case are ongoing.