Japanese Mastermind of Billion-Yen Scam in Cambodia Arrested in Thailand

Thai police announced on June 5th the arrest of a 38-year-old Japanese man suspected of masterminding an international phone scam network based in the Cambodian border town of Poipet, which defrauded Japanese victims of an estimated tens of billions of yen. The suspect, identified as Yusuke Sasaki, was arrested in Bangkok. Japanese authorities had already issued an arrest warrant for Sasaki on fraud charges, and he is expected to be extradited to Japan by the end of June.

According to Thai police, Sasaki had been living in Thailand long-term and was directing and controlling the scam operation in Poipet from behind the scenes. The group primarily impersonated police officers online to defraud victims in Japan. Police added that Sasaki collaborated with a Chinese national who ran the local scam base and was found in possession of items resembling Japanese police uniforms.

Over the past two to three years, Sasaki had traveled to Malaysia, China, and Vietnam in addition to Thailand and Cambodia. While in Thailand, he lived with his family in the Thonglor district of Bangkok, an area with a large Japanese expatriate community. Thai police tracked him for several weeks based on intelligence provided by Japanese authorities.

Investigations by the Aichi Prefectural Police revealed that the group used generative AI to swap their faces with others during video calls when impersonating police officers. The scam base reportedly had a dedicated "AI booth" for this face-swapping operation.

The report notes that in recent years, many scam bases led by Chinese organizations have emerged in Cambodia, with impersonation of police officers being a particularly rampant tactic. In May of last year, 29 Japanese nationals were detained at a base in Poipet for suspected involvement in phone scams and were subsequently arrested by a joint investigation headquarters led by the Aichi Prefectural Police.