A Russian tourist showed up at Samui police station on Tuesday complaining that a Russian gang had extorted 112 million baht worth of cryptocurrency from him.
He said he was filing the complaint because he was worried about the security of his wife, also a Russian national.
The 31-year-old, who only identified himself as Evgenii, filed the complaint with inspector Pol Lt-Colonel Udomsak Thappa.
In his complaint, Evgenii claimed six Russian men showed up at the coffee shop where he was having coffee with his wife and demanded he gives them his digital coins worth US$3 million. The incident reportedly took place in Koh Samui’s Taling Ngam area on September 15, though the alleged victim did not explain why he waited more than 10 days to file the complaint.
He also did not explain why this alleged gang was picking on him. He only said that the six men arrived in a black van and a motorcycle and told him that they wanted his digital coins.
Evgenii also failed to explain how he had amassed a fortune in digital coins or which coins were stolen. He only claimed he had 58,000 digital coins and had transferred 50,000 to the gang.
He added that the gang continued following him and called him again on September 18 demanding more coins.
Initial investigation unveiled security camera footage of the black van and motorcycle in question. The van was seen parking in front of an exchange booth and two men coming out to exchange money. CCTV footage also showed that the motorcycle was being driven by a foreigner.
Police, however, did not find any footage of the men intimidating or talking to the Russian tourist.
Police said the licence plate of the black van showed it came from Chonburi and the six men may be part of the Russian mafia in Pattaya.
THE NATION