Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation has issued an arrest warrant for Chinese businessman Wang Yicheng, alleging he helped operate a network that used illegal cryptocurrency mining to launder proceeds from scams and online gambling. Investigators said the mining operations siphoned off about $28 million worth of electricity, making it one of the agency’s largest cases of this kind in recent years.
Thai investigators identify Wang as a central figure
DSI spokesman Police Major Woranan Srilam said on Tuesday that authorities charged Wang in November with theft and with violating the Computer Crimes Act, which Reuters said covers interference with computer systems. The agency said Wang has fled Thailand, and officials are now working with international counterparts to find him. Thai investigators described him as a key figure among the Chinese investors behind the operation. Wang had previously served as a leader of a Thai-Chinese trade association.
The DSI also said last week that it had issued arrest warrants for four unnamed Chinese nationals and four Myanmar nationals. In the agency’s description, transnational organized crime groups use illegal crypto mining to generate income, launder money, and support technology-driven criminal networks.
Separate US probe had already named him as a suspect
US law enforcement had previously identified Wang as a suspect in a separate digital asset fraud investigation. In June 2023, American authorities seized about $500,000 in cryptocurrency from an account in his name after tracing the funds to a fraud victim in Massachusetts. The US Department of Justice declined to comment on the Thai arrest warrant.
At the same time, Thailand’s SEC has proposed tighter funding rules for crypto firms. The plan would extend approval requirements to the financiers behind major shareholdings, part of a broader effort to curb money laundering risks in the sector.
Reuters investigation linked wallets in his name to pig-butchering flows
Wang had already drawn international attention through a Reuters investigation into cross-border crypto investment fraud. That reporting found that, between 2021 and 2022, a wallet in his name received at least $9.1 million from an account that TRM Labs and other blockchain analytics firms linked to pig-butchering scams. The investigation did not establish whether Wang controlled the wallet, and it also left open the possibility that someone else used his identity to open the account.
Pig-butchering scams typically lure victims into fake cryptocurrency investments through fabricated relationships. One blockchain firm traced part of those operations to KK Park, an industrial compound on the Myanmar-Thailand border. The report cited one victim, a 71-year-old man in California, who lost $2.7 million in life savings after being approached online by a scammer posing as a young woman.
Southeast Asia is tightening enforcement while Thailand expands legal market access
Thailand and several other Southeast Asian countries have increased pressure on scam syndicates in recent months, many of them described as Chinese-run networks. According to the United Nations, such compounds can generate billions of dollars a year and are often staffed in part by trafficking victims. In related enforcement action, Thailand’s SEC recently blocked five major crypto exchanges that were operating without licenses.
The warrant comes as Thailand pushes both stricter enforcement and regulated market expansion. Authorities have approved a five-year tax exemption on crypto gains from trades conducted on licensed platforms, and they have also cleared Bitcoin for use in the country’s regulated derivatives market.