Woman arrested for scamming 500 Burmese workers, promising visa extensions

A woman has been arrested after allegedly promising more than 500 Burmese workers that she could extend their visas, collecting a total of more 6 million baht from the workers for her apparent “services.” The more than 500 workers filed a report with police after the woman allegedly falsely advertised that she could issue the Burmese migrants new passports and visa extensions.

The Burmese workers paid 19,600 baht for the services, according to Thai media. The hundreds of workers say their visas were not extended and they did not receive their new passports. They were told their visas could not be extended because the Covid-19 situation made the process impossible, according to reports in Thai media.

The woman’s husband is a police officer, but told police that he had nothing to do with her alleged crimes. Police arrested the woman at her home in the Samut Prakan province, southeast of Bangkok. Police also collected documents from her home as evidence. Police are still investigating.

It is estimates that there are around 2.3 million Burmese workers residing and working in Thailand.

SOURCE: Thai Residents