Electrician turned conman sold fake amulets online, manipulated meters

An electrician was recently nabbed for one of several illegal side hustles – conning people into buying religious amulets online. The 28 year old electrician was previously been a normal repairman who also illegally manipulated electricity meters before being picked up by police. He confessed he hadn’t anticipated the police would catch up to him.

This arrest today followed Lieutenant General Thiti Saengsawang’s call for officials from Operation Unit 5, News Analysis and Special Tools Department, National Police Station and the 111th batch of Criminal Investigation students to arrest the suspect following the issuance of an arrest warrant on August 3.

The suspect, identified as James, was detained in the parking lot opposite Thong Chen Residence, Maha Chai, in Samut Sakhon province yesterday. An unfortunate online victim who had been tricked into buying amulets filed a complaint leading to the arrest.

The victim had visited a Facebook group concerning buying and selling amulets and found an account called Taweesak Chaitaweesak, which posted amulet sales. After inquiring and ordering an amulet costing 17,700 baht, the victim transferred the money but never received the amulet.

They realised they had been conned. An investigation revealed that James had also tricked locals in Ban Paew, Samut Sakhon, by promising to install electrical equipment in their homes. He would take off with their money without doing any work once he was paid. A significant number of victims emerged from the investigation, reported KhaoSod.

During the interrogation, James confessed to all charges of electrical and online amulet scams. He stated that after finishing his vocational certificate, he began working for the first time at the age of 19 installing electrical equipment. He had done this work for approximately seven years until he became proficient.

Later, he turned to crime under the guise of an electrician, first tricking people into paying for him to install their electrical equipment and would take off with their money.

Eventually, he used the same trick to sell amulets online. He would run off once the victims transferred their money. He had been the one posting fake amulet sales in the Facebook group, never believing that police would be able to track him down.

Following the confession, the police presented James and the related documents to the detectives at the Phaya Thai Police Station for further legal proceedings.