Thailand seeks arrest of fugitive Chinese businessman over illegal crypto mining

Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation has expanded its probe into an illegal crypto mining network accused of funneling over 10 billion baht, roughly $300 million, per year through laundering channels tied to online scams and gambling operations.

At the center of the investigation sits Wang Yicheng, a Chinese businessman who has become the primary fugitive in a case that stretches from Southeast Asian mining farms to a major US digital asset fraud investigation.

The network and the warrants

The DSI issued arrest warrants for eight individuals on June 22: four Chinese nationals, including Wang, and four Myanmar nationals. Authorities are actively hunting seven additional suspects connected to the operation.

According to the investigation, the network employs cash mules and steals electricity to power mining rigs, using the resulting crypto as a vehicle to launder proceeds from online scams and gambling operations.

Wang’s involvement runs deeper than the Thai investigation alone. US authorities have previously seized assets exceeding $17.8 million linked to him as part of a separate digital asset fraud case. The losses connected to that investigation total over 2 billion baht.

Pig butchering and power theft

Wang has been previously implicated in so-called “pig butchering” scams, a particularly cruel form of fraud where criminals build fake romantic or investment relationships with victims over weeks or months before draining their savings.

The electricity theft component is equally significant. Industrial-scale crypto mining consumes enormous amounts of power, and by tapping into the grid illegally, the network reportedly kept operating costs artificially low while generating crypto assets at scale.

Thailand has dealt with unauthorized power access tied to mining operations before. Previous raids have targeted similar setups across the country, highlighting a persistent challenge for Thai authorities as mining operations seek out cheap or free electricity in regions where grid monitoring remains inconsistent.

International coordination

The DSI’s investigation reflects growing collaboration between Thai and US law enforcement agencies in targeting transnational crypto crime networks. The fact that Wang was already on the radar of US investigators, with $17.8 million in assets seized, suggests intelligence sharing between the two countries played a role in building the Thai case.