A pharmacist’s phone was hacked. That was bad enough, but then 430,000 baht was taken from her bank account last Friday, only leaving behind 70 baht. It was the woman’s life savings.

The 49 year old woman, ‘Aree’ from Nakhon Ratchasima in the Isan region, got a call from someone posing to be the phone’s service provider, even stating Aree’s ID card number to confirm her identity. They said they needed to give her a new phone number because her’s was accidentally duplicated in the system. They told Aree she would get a text message with a number she needed to call.

After making the call, somehow the money in her account was transferred to an account under the name Suttiporn Yudee. Kasikorn Bank tried to freeze the hacker’s account, but all the money had been withdrawn by the time they were notified of the incident.

A report was filed with the local police and the incident is now being investigated by the Technology Crime Suppression Division.

SOURCE: Thai Residents

The first outbreak of African Horse Sickness, aka. African Plague in Asia in half a century, has killed nearly 550 horses in Thailand, but authorities announced yesterday they’re winning the battle. The Department of Livestock Development says it’s speeding up blood tests on zebras nationwide, after experts identified an imported group as the source of the outbreak.

Some horse owners have threatened to sue the government over lax import rules they say led to the outbreak. As of Thursday, there had been no reported deaths from AHS for 4 consecutive days in any of the 12 provinces affected by the outbreak.

The virus, which is spread by midges, was first discovered on March 25 in Nakhon Ratchasima. More cases were subsequently found in Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chon Buri, Phetchaburi, Chaiyaphum, Ratchaburi, Sa Kaeo, Saraburi, Lop Buri, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Nayok and Chachoengsao.

Horses who contract AHS suffer listlessness, appetite loss, swollen eyes and fever above 38℃. And then, in many cases, death.

In April the government launched a national vaccination programme, aiming to vaccinate all horses within a 50 kilometre radius of known infection sites in the 12 provinces. Currently, 4,796 horses have been vaccinated out of a total 7,999 targeted vaccinations within the next 2 weeks

The outbreak has affected 2,260 horses, sickening 590 and killing 548, he added. Most of the fatalities were in Pak Chong district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, which has recorded 435 deaths, representing 79% of all deaths. The government has advised owners to protect their horses with midge nets.

The virus is not known to harm humans.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

An empty wheelchair at an Udon Thani Thailand hospital moving back and forth has some locals claiming it’s a “phee sing,” meaning mischievous ghost. The Ban Kham Doung hospital is even planning an event to pray and honour the wheelchair’s deceased owner to put the spirit at peace.

Footage of the supposedly haunted wheelchair has floated through the internet for the past few days, the story getting picked up by various news sites around the world. The wheelchair moves forward, stops, and then reverses. Some of the hospital staff believe it was the ghost of its former owner that passed away at the hospital, The Sun reports.

Thai media is skeptical and says there was high winds and rain during that time that may have contributed to the wheelchair moving. The hospital’s director says it could be the wind, but the hospital will hold a ceremony just to make sure the spirit is at peace… just in case.

“Even though the wind might have been blowing the chair, we are planning to hold a Buddhist holy event to say prayers and pay respect to the spirit of the former owner, just to be safe.”

SOURCES:Thai Visa News | The Sun