Elderly Thai woman duped by thieves in lottery and gold necklace scam

An elderly Thai woman was tricked by gold necklace thieves performing a scam lottery number ceremony at famous temple in Udon Thani, Thailand. The 75 year old victim lost a one-baht gold necklace worth 32,800 baht (US$993) to the criminals.

A Sanook reporter visited Udon Thani’s Wat Phra Thaen yesterday at 3pm to investigate Mai Boonpha’s complaint. She claimed that a senior gentleman around 70 years old and a middle-aged woman between 40 and 50 years old scammed her. Moreover, they purportedly arrived in a bronzed-silver Toyota pickup truck that conspicuously lacked a front license plate. The two individuals had persuaded her to take part in a ceremony to request a “lucky lottery number” inside their vehicle. Subsequently, she lost her one-baht gold necklace, which was worth 32,800 baht (US$993).

Surveillance footage within Wat Phra Thaen recorded the suspects driving the victim to the temple in their truck, where they performed the ceremony for eight minutes. The criminals planned the scam around the temple’s CCTV surveillance, so no one left the vehicle. Following the alleged lucky number revelation, they went on to buy lottery tickets together.

Mai Boonpha recounted her disbelief upon realising she had been deceived, accompanied by anger and disappointment. After her niece filed a complaint with the local police, the news reporter approached her for an interview. The purpose of the interview was to alert the public about this particular scam and seek assistance from the media in spreading awareness.

“It was my own greed for wanting to win 3 million that caused this to happen,” she admitted. “My niece, who bought that necklace for me two years ago, didn’t blame me but rather supported me in lodging the complaint and coming to the media to warn others.”

Most Thais enjoy playing the lottery, but unfortunately, there are many scams out there. In a similar incident, a Thai man lost 10,000 baht after buying counterfeit lottery tickets. Read more HERE.