Police bust seven suspects in major fake concert ticket scam targeting fans across Thailand
Police arrested seven suspects in a major fake concert ticket scam that swindled hundreds of fans across Thailand.
Officers arrested three men and four women, aged 22 to 37, in separate raids in Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, and Phuket, on June 10.
The group allegedly sold fake concert bookings using digitally altered images to dupe fans into paying for tickets that never arrived.
They then moved the cash through mule bank accounts to hide the money trail before police busted the scheme on June 10.
The suspects were charged with jointly committing public fraud, fraud by impersonation, dishonestly importing false data into a computer system in a manner likely to cause public damage, conspiring to commit money laundering offences, laundering money, and operating as members of a secret criminal organisation.
Officers seized 10 bank books, four mobile phones, and one vehicle during the operation.
The bust followed complaints of a concert ticket scam on X, targetting fans of international artists like Blackpink, Seventeen, Aespa, Day6, EXO, and Daniel Caesar.
In one case, a fan paid a 3,000-baht deposit for tickets to a Jimmy and Sea concert, but the tickets never arrived.
Authorities traced the payments, which led to the bank accounts allegedly used by the gang.
Police said the members were given specific tasks including monitoring popular concert releases, posting fake listings, managing mule accounts and withdrawing cash.
They added that the scam had been ongoing since 2024.
One suspect, Thanyaluck, 37, allegedly admitted she was recruited to withdraw cash for the group. She said she later realised the money was linked to a fake concert ticket scam when her accounts were frozen and victims began contacting her on Instagram.
She claimed she has withdrawn cash more than 50 times, totalling more than 200,000 baht.
Another suspect, Rattanakorn, 25, said the group monitored release dates for popular concerts and events.
They then sourced images of booking confirmations or e-tickets posted for sale by other users on X before editing the buyer names, seat numbers, and watermarks to make the listings appear credible before reposting them for fraudulent sales.
Rattanakorn said she was assigned to procure X accounts with more than 2,000 followers to be used in the operation.
After successfully deceiving victims, the group would frequently change account names and user IDs to continue operating and avoid detection.
The suspects also obtained mule bank accounts to receive transfers from victims and edited images of account holders' identification cards by adding the phrase ‘For concert ticket sales only' to gain trust.
Once victims transferred money, the suspects moved the funds rapidly through multiple bank accounts before withdrawing the cash, which was split among the members.
After examining electronic devices, investigators discovered more than 350 X accounts used in the scams.
Officials said there were 739 ticket scam cases recorded, though more are believed to be unreported.
