Conman captured at local cockfight

KAMALA: After a two-month search, a local trickster who conned a 55-year-old woman out of a million baht in a land scam was finally arrested – at an illegal cockfight in Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

Lt Col Monsak Srisuwan from Kamala Police Station said that Phuket City Resident Benja Wongdara had been trying to sell a plot of land.

K. Benja told police that on May 13 a man introducing himself as Sitthipong went to her house, saying that he had a client interested in buying the property for 5 million baht.

K. Benja accepted the offer and on May 18 received a call from Sitthipong asking her to prepare one million baht, which he said was to cover the transaction fee for the sale of the land, said Col Monsak.

On the same day, Sitthipong drove K. Benja, her friend Chutharat Sae-Tan and the million baht in cash to a hotel in Kamala, where a rendezvous with the supposed buyer had been arranged.

The buyer, however, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, K. Benja was told to wait in a room where a group of five men and women were gambling. The group lured K. Benja into gambling with them and she lost all her money, she told police.

Police did not reveal what game K. Benja had been duped with.

Annoyed at being swindled, K. Benja went to Kamala Police Station where she explained her ordeal. A warrant was issued for Sitthipong’s arrest and the 40-year-old schemer was eventually caught by police at a cockfight in Nakhon Sri Thammarat Police and taken to Kamala Police Station on July 13.

Col Monsak warned that there are other tricksters out there waiting to prey on unsuspecting victims. Citizens should report any suspicious behavior to their local police station, he said.