Key facts
- Thailand has issued an arrest warrant for Chinese businessman Wang Yicheng.
- Wang is accused of being part of a network laundering money from scams and online gambling through illegal cryptocurrency mining.
- He was charged in November with theft and under the Computer Crimes Act.
- Thai authorities believe Wang has fled the country and are working with international counterparts to locate him.
- U.S. law enforcement has also identified Wang as a suspect in a digital-asset fraud case.
- A previous Reuters investigation linked a crypto wallet in Wang's name to at least $9.1 million from scam operations.
Thailand has issued an arrest warrant for Chinese businessman Wang Yicheng, who is alleged to be involved in a network that laundered money from scams and online gambling through illegal cryptocurrency mining. Wang was previously the subject of a Reuters investigation detailing how an account in his name received millions of dollars from a crypto wallet linked to scam operations, even as he maintained ties to Thai political and law enforcement elites.
Police Major Woranan Srilam, a spokesman for Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI), stated that Wang was charged in November under the Computer Crimes Act and for theft. Authorities believe Wang has fled the country and are collaborating with international counterparts to locate him. The DSI also issued arrest warrants for four unnamed Chinese and four Myanmar nationals as part of the investigation.
Wang is described as a key figure in a group of Chinese investors allegedly using illegal crypto mining to launder proceeds from illicit activities. Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations have recently intensified crackdowns on Chinese-run scam syndicates, which often operate from industrial compounds and generate billions of dollars annually. The DSI uncovered this network while investigating illegal crypto mining operations that illicitly consumed approximately $28 million worth of electricity.
U.S. law enforcement has also identified Wang as a suspect in a digital-asset fraud case, and in June 2023, the United States seized about $500,000 in cryptocurrency from an account in his name, tracing funds stolen from a Massachusetts victim. The earlier Reuters investigation found that a crypto wallet in Wang's name received at least $9.1 million between 2021 and 2022 from an account linked to "pig-butchering" scams. The investigation could not determine if Wang was personally behind the account or if his identity was used by another party. Some of these scams were reportedly tied to KK Park, an industrial park on the Myanmar-Thailand border.