Police arrested a man for fraud after he hacked into a rich businessman’s bank accounts using a smartphone sent in the mail, posing it as a prize. 34 year old Anontwat Vorametchayangkul took 395,000 baht from the man’s accounts, police announced yesterday. He has a background in computer science, and police say he is wanted in 9 cases which are mostly fraud related.

A text message was sent to the businessman saying he won a phone in a customer reward promotion from a luxury hotel where he had recently stayed. He also received calls from the number, and when he didn’t answer, they contacted his mother’s phone saying the won the phone in a random drawing and he also won a free 3-day stay at the hotel.

The phone was later delivered to his house in Bangkok and was told to keep the SIM card in the phone for 2 hours to verify his reward. He checked his bank account sometime after and noticed money was missing.

The delivery driver was questioned. He said he took short term jobs he found online and was hired to deliver mobile phones people won in a hotel promotion for 5,000 baht. Police say the driver was not involved in the scam.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

Police are warning of new internet scam offering lucky amulets to guarantee lottery success, claiming, falsely, that they’ve had helped celebrities win the lottery multiple times. The announcement from the deputy spokesman for the Royal Thai police yesterday.

“Investigation officers have looked into this matter and found a group of people who offered to buy lottery tickets after they had won the prizes in the latest drawing, so that they could take a picture and post on social media claiming it was won by celebrities. Such an act is a violation of the Computer-related Crime Act of 2007.”

The Act says that those who key into a computer system distorted or forged information or data, in a manner likely to cause damage to another person or the public will be subject to imprisonment of up to 5 years and/or a fine of up to 100,000.

“Lottery is a game of chance with no way to guarantee success, therefore people should consider carefully before buying anything that claims to bring luck to the owner. If you were damaged by, or have information regarding this kind of internet scam, please contact Police Cyber Taskforce hotline at 1599, 1155 or 191.”

Amulet scams have been a popular inhabitant of the top ten local scams for Thais. THIS is from a temple in Phuket that was ripping off Chinese tourists selling off cheap plastic amulets for exorbitant prices with promises of ‘lucky’ or ‘magic’ powers.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

A Burmese carpenter was killed early yesterday morning at a central Thailand workers’ camp which houses hundreds of migrant workers. 32 year old Thein Tun, was stabbed multiple times and was dead by the time police arrived at the Sino-Thai Engineering camp in the Samut Prakan province, just south of Bangkok.

Police found a knife but are still looking for possible suspects. The workers at the camp are from Cambodia and Myanmar. Only some can speak Thai. Police tried questioning some of the workers with the help of those who could speak Thai, but no one said they knew or saw what happened.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post