73 year old Thai man swindles friends to pay party entertainers

Police arrested a 73 year old Thai man at his house in the Huay Kwang district of Bangkok after he swindled millions of baht from his friends to pay for two female party entertainers.

A Thai man filed a complaint against his 73 year old friend, Charnyut Saelok, accusing him of swindling about 300,000 baht. The victim explained that Charnyut allegedly borrowed money under false pretences, claiming it was for his adopted child’s medical treatment, who was critically ill.

Charnyut showed the victim receipts from Ramathibodhi Hospital making the victim feel guilty and prompted further lending. Charnyut also deceived his friend with promises of repaying the debt from a supposed court case victory, offering 2 million baht.

However, he later cut off all communication with the victim. Subsequently, the victim sought out Charnyut and discovered that other friends had also fallen victim to his deceit, collectively losing several million baht.

The victim later found out that the hospital receipts were forged and that the money went to two women who worked as entertainers, not to the adopted child.

Officers from the Phetchakasem Police Station found Charnyut living in a house in the Huay Kwang district of Bangkok, leading to his arrest on March 13. Charnyut faces three charges including:

• Section 341 of the Criminal Law: committing fraud by deceiving another person with a false statement or concealing the truth. The penalty is imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both.
• Section 265 of the Criminal Law: faking an official document. The penalty is imprisonment from six months to five years and a fine from 10,000 to 100,000 baht.
• Section 14(1) of the Computer Act: importing forged data into the computer system in a manner that is likely to cause damage to the third party or the public. The penalty will be imprisonment for up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht.