Police arrested a man for his alleged involvement in a fraudulent lottery ticket scam which generated an estimated 600 million baht. More than 50 people say they fell victim to the scheme with some claiming they lost thousands of baht after they purchased lottery tickets online, but the tickets were never delivered.
Wutthipat Lerlob allegedly coaxed people into investing in the scheme. Police from the Crime Suppression Division at his home in Samut Prakan, just southeast of Bangkok, on charges of collusion to defraud. A warrant for his arrest had been issued by the Trat Provincial Court last Tuesday.
Dozens of people had filed complaints in Trat and Chon Buri, with 20 people claiming they lost a total of 10 million baht after their order of lottery tickets were never delivered. The initial investigation led to the arrest of 30 year old Jitra Yothapirom earlier this month who allegedly spearheaded the scheme.
SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times
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Thailand, the land of endless scams and corruption.
600 million ? amazing rich
I have been saying it for a long time, get the lottery on line at 7/11 shops. Running the lottery in Thailand is
( back in cave man style) didn’t the p-m sought this out 8-years ago. What has the P-M done in 8-years.
????
“I have been saying it for a long time, get the lottery on line at 7/11 shops.”
Agreed in principle,@Fred g, but the reality is that you’d put tens of thousands of sellers, at the bottom end of the chain, out of a job.
“…didn’t the p-m sought this out 8-years ago …”
The change was supposed to stop sellers “overcharging” for lottery tickets, selling tickets at 100 baht instead of the set price of 80 baht.
The problem is the lottery sellers, unless they have a “box” of 500 tickets, buy 500 tickets or so from the wholesalers at 85-90 baht per ticket, selling at 100 baht, making a few thousand out of which they often have to pay the cost of living away from home.
The middle-men, the wholesalers, make a massive amount of money from it so have a lot of influence. They buy from the government at around 70-75 baht a ticket then sell to the sellers at 85-90, making 10-15 baht a ticket and selling tens of thousands of tickets each every fortnight making millions.
Obviously it’s impossible for sellers to sell at 80 baht if they can only buy at 85 baht!
All it did was allow yet more corruption, as police now charge the sellers for a monthly unofficial “licence” as they can fine anyone selling at more than 80 baht.
If you look at the sellers’ boxes you’ll see most have a Buddha sticker in the corner. These aren’t for luck, but they’re from the police and they change every month to show the “licence” has been paid.
I agree @Simon Small that sorting out a lot of the corruption issues, including lottery ticket sales has a negative impact on the people at the bottom of the ladder. It’s true of many things in Thailand, such as young kids running between cars at a red light junction. It’s clearly dangerous but if you stop it you take food off the table of the most needy. Of course the answer isn’t to turn a blind eye to it. It’s to change the process from top to bottom, collect associated taxes and filter that down to the people who do the hard and dangerous work today. That’s the role of government to find a way through these difficult issues. The good news for Thailand is that many countries around the world have found how to do this years ago. They don’t have to ask those pesky Westerners, they can ask the governments in Singapore, South Korea, Japan and even Taiwan. But I guess that would be too much loss of face to ask for help?….
@Simon Small – @Simon Small – I only made a suggestion Simon,,, tell us something we don’t know..
“I agree @Simon Small that sorting out a lot of the corruption issues, including lottery ticket sales has a negative impact on the people at the bottom of the ladder”
That’s absolutely NOT what I’m saying, @Nigel – the corruption with the lottery (the middlemen and the police) makes it WORSE for those at the bottom end of the ladder as the sellers have to pay more for their tickets and they have to pay the police.
In this case, at least, sorting out the corruption would make their lives a lot better.
“But I guess that would be too much loss of face to ask for help?…”
Why does “the government” need to “ask for help”?
They know exactly where and what the corruption is because they’re responsible for it and on the receiving end!!!
They’re the experts, FFS!
@Simon Small – I thought you was the expert, in all matters.
I like the idea I saw in Spain once, where only cripples can sell lottery tickets.
Well that was the case . . .