Former sailor allegedly runs hotel auction scam, causing 3 million baht losses

Nearly 200 people accused a former Thai sailor of running a hotel auction scam that caused more than 3 million baht in losses.

Renowned Thai lawyer Ronnarong Kaewphet, accompanied by 20 representatives of the victims, visited the headquarters of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, to file a complaint against a former sailor and his company regarding the hotel auction scam.

Ronnarong revealed that each victim was enticed by the sailor’s company to participate in an online auction offering stays in luxury or five-star hotels in Thailand. The auctions were conducted on the company’s Facebook page, which boasted more than 1.3 million followers.

The auction allowed each participant to book a high-end hotel at a low price. The Facebook page administrator set the hotel rate at a cheap price of around 2,500 baht or less, and the auction usually ended at a price of around 6,000 baht, which was still much cheaper compared to the original price of 17,000 to 18,000 baht per night.

However, all the bidders ended up in trouble during their stays. They were unable to stay in their dream hotels due to various excuses given by the company. Some were moved to cheaper hotels or were charged more during their stay.

Selling Thai desserts to pay debts

One of the victims said she lost over 280,000 baht in the auction scam. The administrator told all the bidders that there was no expiry date and that they could book the hotels at any time. The victim kept participating in the auction and buying more stays to spend time with her family at a later date.

Another victim revealed that she lost about 1 million baht to the company. The administrator even invited her to join as a volunteer to book hotels for other bidders. The company claimed that they joined hands with a charitable organisation to spread happiness to people with cheap accommodation.

The victim stated agreed to join the company because she believed it was a worthy cause but the company never reimbursed her for the cost of the bookings.

The victims contacted the company owner, a former sailor, in an attempt to reclaim their money. However, the ex-sailor informed them that both he and the company were incapable of refunding the money. He proposed a plan to address the debt by cooking and selling Thai desserts.

Realising their collective losses exceeded 3 million baht and that selling desserts wouldn’t promptly cover the losses, the victims opted to seek assistance from lawyer Ronnarong.

The Deputy Commissioner of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, Kongkritsada Kittitirapong, assured that he and his team would conduct a thorough investigation to determine the legal violations committed by the company.