Chinese fugitive in major fraud case arrested in Thailand for alleged visa overstay

A Chinese fugitive wanted over a major fraud case was arrested in Thailand over alleged overstay.

Su Wen, 33, had reportedly caused a disturbance at a hotel in Kanchanaburi province when he was detained on September 23.

But when immigration officers checked his background, they found he was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice over an alleged 200 million baht scam in China.

Footage shows police hauling the suspect out of the building in the Si Sawat district.

He allegedly worked for a China-based syndicate, forging documents to transfer ownership of properties before using them as collateral to secure loans.

Chinese authorities said the network mortgaged six properties worth around 100 million yuan and fraudulently obtained more than 44 million yuan in loans.

Su allegedly received more than 30 million yuan from the scheme before leaving China for Thailand on August 16, 2024.

Police said he had overstayed his visa by 578 days.

Thai immigration officials later contacted the Foreign Affairs Division to verify the Red Notice.

Police Lieutenant General Noppasil Poolsawat, Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said Su was charged locally with overstaying and will be extradited to China.

He added: '‘Immigration Bureau statistics indicate that 81,000 foreign nationals were denied entry into the country between October 1, 2025, and the present, averaging nearly 7,000 individuals per month, due to possessing prohibited characteristics under the Immigration Act.

‘This marks a new approach for the Immigration Bureau, integrating investigative techniques into the screening process to distinguish between desirable and undesirable foreign nationals, thereby preventing the latter from entering the country.'

The arrest comes as Thai police step up checks on foreign nationals suspected of violating the law or having links to transnational crime.