‘Arena of Valor’ players Naphat “Tokyogurl” Warasin and Kong “Cheerio” Sutprom are heading to detention for three months after a Bangkok court found them guilty of cheating at the Southeast Asian Games 2025. Both admitted to what they did in court. The sentence started at six months but got cut in half because they worked with investigators throughout the process.
On December 15, 2025, Thailand was playing Vietnam in the women’s semi-final, and Tokyogurl was not the one controlling her own character. She had handed Cheerio her tournament login beforehand, and he got onto her account from outside the venue. She had Discord open on a device she kept hidden at the tournament so he could watch her screen and play the match from wherever he was. The referees figured it out because what her hands were doing on the keyboard looked nothing like what the character was doing in the game.
Tokyogurl’s Own Teammates Saw The Warning Signs During Practice But Did Not Say Anything
Tokyogurl’s teammates on the Thai national team had noticed things were off well before the semi-final. She would not show her hands while playing during practice and kept turning down in-person training. However, nobody brought it up with anyone.
It was only when referees saw that her inputs and the character’s actions were not lining up during the Vietnam match that the cheating was uncovered. What she did is called ghosting in the competitive scene, which basically means someone else is secretly playing your match for you while you sit there and pretend.
On February 4, 2026, police showed up at both of their homes. Tokyogurl was in Nonthaburi, and Cheerio was out in Nakhon Phanom. What they pulled from those searches included phones, IP records, and conversations between the two of them where they had gone over the plan in detail.
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Thailand’s cybersecurity laws covered the charges because what they did counted as breaking into protected computer systems without authorization. Each of them got fined 24,000 baht, which is somewhere around $740. Both posted bail for the same amount and are out right now while they go through the appeal.
Thailand Pulled Their Entire Esports Team From The SEA Games Over This And Both Players Are Banned For Life
It did not stop with just the two of them. Thailand’s women’s ‘Arena of Valor’ roster got thrown out of the tournament right away, and then the Thai Esports Federation decided to remove the entire national team from the SEA Games. Every player in every game.
Santi Lohtong, who heads the federation, said the whole thing damaged Thailand’s image on the world stage. Because of this, both Tokyogurl and Cheerio also got lifetime bans from all future competitions on top of the three months.
It is also worth remembering that esports cheating cases almost never end up in a courtroom. Players who get caught usually get banned from the tournament or fined by the organizer, and that is where it stops. But Thailand’s government went the criminal route and actually got guilty verdicts in court.
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Three months of detention under Thai law is served at a facility separate from regular prisons because the sentence is short enough to qualify for that. But it still goes on their record as a criminal conviction, and esports has never really had to deal with that at a tournament of this scale.
