Fugitive swindles millions from Thai lottery buyers, eludes arrest for 6 years
Police from the PCT5 division arrested a Thai fugitive in connection with a fraudulent investment scheme involving government lottery quotas. The fugitive allegedly swindled victims out of over 50 million baht before evading capture for six years, Khaosod reported.
Today, Pol. Lt. Col. Theeradech Thamsuthee, head of the Special Operations Unit 5, led the team of PCT5 officers in arresting the 55 year old woman, Orarin Taythong, originally from the northern Tak province. She was wanted on a court warrant issued in 2017 for charges of fraud. Orarin was apprehended in Nonthaburi province yesterday after being identified by an online patrol unit.
Orarin, who was known to her victims as a trustworthy figure, had been dealing in government lottery tickets for over ten years. She is alleged to have lured a group of over 20 victims into her scheme by offering them cut-price government lottery tickets. However, she demanded cash deposits upfront, which she then refused to return when she failed to deliver the tickets as agreed.
Instead, Orarin allegedly handed over lesser amounts of money, claiming these were profits. Her victims, however, had been expecting to receive government lottery tickets to sell themselves. When questioned about the unreturned deposits, the suspect consistently deflected and blamed the outstanding funds on an inability to collect them.
By 2017, increased pressure from the growing group of victims, all of whom demanded their deposit payments back, may have led Orarin to flee. After reporting the matter locally with no resolution, the victims turned to the national police for help. Pol. Lt. Col. Theeradech instructed the Special Command and PCT5 teams to investigate and apprehend the suspect.
During her arrest, Orarin made attempts to evade police and even scaled her residence’s boundary wall, escaping for a day before being recaptured. Throughout her interrogation, she denied the allegations and claimed she had no intention of committing fraud. She explained her failure to deliver the lottery tickets by stating she was robbed and assaulted by criminals who stole the tickets from her.
Orarin attributed her six-year absence from her hometown in Tak province to fears of being targeted by the same group of threatening individuals. Despite contemplating turning herself in, she continued to hide and took odd jobs in Bangkok and Nonthaburi due to concerns about her safety.
