Chinese, Thai police solve transnational credit card fraud case

Chinese and Thai police have captured nine suspects in a coordinated crackdown on a major cross-border credit card fraud case targeting Chinese citizens, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

Four Chinese and five Thai nationals were detained after police from the two countries simultaneously raided several criminal hideouts in a recent operation, dismantling a group suspected of stealing credit card information and making fraudulent transactions.

The case was uncovered in 2025, when police of economic crime investigation department in Shanghai identified a cross-border criminal group allegedly targeting Chinese credit card holders.

Chinese police then shared case information and requests for investigative assistance with their Thai counterparts, launching international law enforcement cooperation.

Investigations found that in 2024, two suspects surnamed Ji and Xiao allegedly conspired to carry out the scheme. Ji opened a dried-fruit store in Thailand as a front and lured victims with discounts for purchases made using UnionPay cards, allowing the group to illegally obtain their credit card information.

Xiao then allegedly produced counterfeit cards and recruited others to make purchases and dispose of illegally obtained goods for profit.

Police have so far identified more than 5 million yuan ($741,000) in funds linked to the case.

In early July, the Ministry of Public Security sent a working group to Thailand to investigate the case jointly with Thai police. The two sides mapped out the group's organizational structure, identified key suspects and criminal locations, and traced its methods and financial flows.

Police from both countries recently launched simultaneous raids, collecting evidence and targeting the entire criminal chain, the ministry said.

An official with the ministry said the operation marked the first synchronized joint law enforcement action by Chinese and Thai police in recent years targeting economic crimes.

The two sides will explore a regular cooperation mechanism for combating cross-border economic crime and deepen cooperation in intelligence sharing, joint investigations, fugitive tracking and recovery of illicit assets, the official said.