Thai economic crimes police and the Revenue Department arrested three suspects and broke up a five-year fake tax invoice network on August 17, an operation officials say cost the state an estimated 360 million baht in lost revenue, according to several news sources. Central Investigation Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Natthasak Chaowanasai announced the results at a press conference in Bangkok, describing the case as part of an operation called “Anti Ghost Bill.” More than 100 officers raided 10 locations across five provinces to take down the network, whose clients were mostly petrol station operators and construction firms.
The raids covered four sites in Bangkok, three in Nonthaburi, and one each in Nakhon Ratchasima, Samut Prakan and Chaiyaphum, sources said. Investigators searched private homes, companies accused of buying and using the fake invoices, and accounting firms allegedly tied to the scheme. A real-time coordination center was set up at Central Investigation Bureau headquarters to track the operation as it unfolded.
Police said all three individuals named in the Central Tax Court warrants, the full slate of targets identified in the investigation, were taken into custody during the operation. Each suspect is identified only by first name, in line with Thai reporting practice ahead of formal indictment. A 61-year-old woman known as Ratha was arrested at a condominium in Bangkok’s Rama 3 area. A 50-year-old man known as Khanaphot was arrested at his home in Non Sung district, Nakhon Ratchasima. A 33-year-old man known as Pandecha was arrested at his residence in Bang Yai district, Nonthaburi. All three face charges of jointly issuing tax invoices without legal authority under Thailand’s Revenue Code. The offense carries a prison term of three months to seven years per invoice, and investigators believe the group issued invoices on multiple separate occasions, which could multiply the total penalty they face.
Ghost bills, as investigators call them, are invoices for goods or services that were never actually exchanged. Companies buy them to inflate their reported expenses, which lowers the taxable income they report to the Revenue Department, or to support fraudulent claims tied to input tax credits. Because the scheme relies on paperwork rather than real transactions, it can operate quietly for years before drawing scrutiny, which is roughly the timeline investigators describe in this case.
According to investigators, Pandecha served as the authorized director of the company that issued the fraudulent invoices and worked with an accounting firm to inflate the company’s registered capital to 400 million baht, a move meant to make the business appear legitimate. Ratha allegedly handled sales to a closed network of buyers rather than advertising openly, while Khanaphot’s bank accounts were used to receive customer payments before funds moved on to Pandecha for distribution. Ratha’s share of the proceeds was reportedly sent through Thailand Post rather than a bank transfer, a method authorities say helped the network avoid detection for years.
Financial records reviewed during the investigation show the ring generated an estimated 300 million to 400 million baht a year in turnover from the fake invoices, sources said, with the cumulative damage to the state’s tax system reaching roughly 360 million baht over five years. Officers seized more than 200 items in the raids, including 105 tax invoices, a dozen folders of purchase and sales tax records, 18 bank passbooks, 18 company seals, and 35 phones and computers.
The case follows a larger crackdown last year. In June 2025, the Central Investigation Bureau and the Revenue Department dismantled a separate VAT fraud ring initially blamed for more than 1 billion baht in state losses, after raids across Tak, Chiang Mai and Bangkok led to 10 arrests. A second phase of that investigation in November 2025 added nine more suspects and expanded the search into additional provinces, pushing the total estimated damage in that case above 2.1 billion baht, according to a year-end summary from the Central Investigation Bureau. Authorities have not said whether the two networks are connected.
The Revenue Department said the investigation into this case is ongoing, with officials examining whether additional companies or individuals took part in the scheme. Investigators are also reviewing the accounting firms named in the raids to determine what role, if any, they played in helping the network appear legitimate.
