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Thai-FBI Operation Recovers $432,000 in Crypto From Alleged European Hacker

Crypto

Business Honor
14 November, 2025

Operation 293 returned recovered digital assets to Thai victims on Monday, completing the law enforcement effort.

Officials announced on Wednesday that authorities in Thailand have successfully recovered more than $432,000 (14 million baht) in stolen digital assets from an alleged Eastern European cybercriminal who had been hiding in Phuket. The police operation code-named "Operation 293", seized $320,000 worth of crypto, which was returned to Thai victims, according to Lt. Gen. Suraphon Prempoot, head of Thailand's Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB), according to local media. The FBI first notified investigators that a person from an Eastern European country bordering Asia had fled to Thailand. "This operation demonstrates that sophisticated hackers cannot hide behind digital anonymity," Suraphon stated in the report. The alleged hacker used malware that was able to infiltrate its victim’s devices and capture authentication keys and seed phrases, both critical access credentials for crypto accounts.

The report states that after accessing the victim's information, the suspect converted the amount of money into Tether's stablecoin, USDT, and Bitcoin before distributing the money to several digital wallets. Authorities ultimately identified six victims, all Thai nationals, and the total amount of loss exceeded 100,000 (or approximately 3.2 million Baht). Investigators then began working with Tether to freeze the stolen USDT, and then with Bitkub, a crypto exchange based in Bangkok, to track smart contracts and recover the assets.

Officials transferred about 432,000 USDT to a custody wallet managed by CCIB before returning funds to two victims on Monday. Early in October, Bangkok authorities arrested alleged fraudster Pedro M. - a Portuguese national - who was suspected of running a global scheme that defrauded victims of $580 million from various methods, including credit card security and crypto fraud. Thai authorities dismantled the "Lungo Company" in September, which was allegedly part of a criminal network that attempted to defraud more than 870 South Korean victims of $15 million from romance frauds, fake lottery schemes, and illicit crypto business investments.