Police have arrested a Chinese man and his Thai girlfriend accused of offering an illegal yuan exchange service, with importers of Chinese products and technology-related criminals among their clients.
The suspects identified only as Zheng, 28, and Kittiyaphorn, 30, were arrested at a three-storey townhome in Chom Thong district of Bangkok on Wednesday, said Pol Col Krit Woratat, an economic crime suppression superintendent.
Police seized two mobile phones and four bank passbooks. They were charged with illegally offering a currency exchange service.
According to Pol Col Krit, the foreign exchange service was advertised via the Facebook page of Ms Kittiyaphorn, which had about 9,800 followers. The couple posted pictures of bundles of cash to make their service appear credible. The suspects sent QR codes for clients to transfer Thai baht to their accounts.
Mr Zheng provided the money and Ms Kittiyaphorn ran the service, setting the daily yuan exchange rate higher than market rates to make a profit.
The Thai woman was also responsible for opening bank accounts to receive money from clients and telling Mr Zheng to transfer yuan via Alipay to clients, Pol Col Krit said.
Police found the couple had handled transactions worth about 26 million baht in total over the past six months. Most of the clients were importers of Chinese products, both individuals and companies.
Nine of the 219 bank accounts with which the suspects made transactions were connected to technology crime, with transactions totalling 1.1 million baht.
