Thai influencer arrested after promising over-valued gift boxes to customers

Thai influencer Nara Crepe Katoey is under arrest for public fraud over online sales of gift boxes that she promised would be worth more than the prices paid.

Nara, whose real name is Aniwat Prathumthin, was picked up in Ayutthaya after the Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for her alleged advertising or encouraging illegal acts, defrauding the public, fraudulent borrowing, and deceiving by putting false information into a computer system.

Police say they found her at the home of her boyfriend in the Bang Pa-in district. They seized four mobile phones, six bank account books, and an iPad.

Officers then went on to search a commercial building in the same district after learning that the 24 year old was using the building to store her goods and live stream gift box sales.

According to the Bangkok Post, police say many victims filed complaints that Aniwat, who is a famous influencer, had lured victims into buying gift boxes.

Police say the gift box prices varied from 10,000 baht to 100,000 baht. Nara allegedly promised that after buying a gift box, the victims would receive much more in return for their money.

One of those promises was that of receiving gold, which was supposed to be worth more than the victims paid for the gift boxes.

The victims say they transferred money to Nara but did not receive anything in return. Nara was arrested last year for advertising dietary supplements containing the hazardous psychoactive stimulant desoxy-D2PM.

But, her criminal history doesn’t stop there as three months before that, she was charged along with another transgender influencer and a woman with lese majeste. She was accused of promoting a video for the Lazada e-commerce network, triggering many angry reactions from the public.

The Thai army and its personnel then briefly boycotted Lazada, leading to Nara’s and her co-conspirators’ arrests.

The video which caused all the fuss was posted on TikTok to promote a Lazada sales campaign and features a transgender influencer known as Nara and another female influence known as Noo Rat.

Nara wore a long dress and played the role of a daughter looking after her disabled mother, played by Noo Rat, who wore traditional Thai dress and sat in a wheelchair.

Thai netizens criticised the video as being offensive to disabled people, and the hashtag #banlazada began trending on Twitter shortly after the campaign was launched.