TL;DR
- Mule accounts let criminals hide real identities despite visible blockchain transactions.
- Cross-border fraud scheme targeted investors in Bangkok, Singapore, California, and Vietnam.
- Thailand links crypto suspect lists to central bank payment systems and law enforcement.
Digital asset platforms in Thailand froze more than 10,000 suspicious accounts linked to money laundering and illegal operations. The action ran under a scheme called “Speed Bump,” driven by the Thai Digital Asset Operators Trade Association (TDO), and represents the broadest effort the country has deployed to date to scrub its digital financial system of third-party accounts used to move illicit funds.
Att Thongyai Asavanund, chief executive of KuCoin Thailand and chairman of the TDO, laid out the core problem: platforms can see wallet addresses and on-chain activity, but they frequently cannot identify the real person controlling a given account. That opacity turns so-called mule accounts into the primary risk vector inside Thailand’s crypto system.
Since control operations began, operators froze a total of 47,692 mule accounts. The success of the program, however, created new operational challenges. Criminal groups responded by opening fresh accounts under different individuals’ names as soon as the previous ones were blacklisted. At the same time, operators face higher compliance costs and a heavier operational load to investigate each suspicious transaction.
A Fraud Network That Crossed Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, and California
Alongside the mule account problem, Thai authorities are also pursuing an investment fraud case with international reach. Kampanat “Jom” Vimolnoht deceived investors across Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, and California, offering them access to supposed allocations, contracts, and deals in high-profile crypto projects, including Monad, Babylon, and Linera.
Vimolnoht operated through private channels on Telegram, WhatsApp, and exclusive investor groups, presenting himself as an insider with direct connections to the projects. When delivery deadlines approached, victims received excuses about delays.
Founders of the mentioned projects, contacted directly by the affected investors, denied any formal relationship with Vimolnoht and clarified they had only spoken with him informally.
The company KXVC issued a public statement confirming it never authorized any individual to act on its behalf or to receive investor transfers into personal bank accounts. The same company confirmed that Vimolnoht departed the organization in March 2025.
To close the gaps that enable fraud of this kind, the TDO connects its suspect lists to the Bank of Thailand’s payment system and to law enforcement agencies, while also enforcing the Travel Rule, which requires disclosure of sender and recipient details on every crypto transaction. Thailand is turning its digital asset sector into a testing ground for crypto regulation across Southeast Asia.
