Koh Chang woman arrested for mobile scam defrauding 100 people
A 21 year old woman was arrested in Koh Chang for allegedly deceiving over 100 people in a mobile phone down-payment scam that lasted over a year. The woman, identified only as Marisa, who owned a well-known shop, faced several warrants for her arrest, one being from Thonburi Criminal Court dated November 28 last year, for fraud and entering false information into a computer system.
Thai police apprehended her yesterday, February 14, after she had evaded capture by moving across various provinces.
The arrest was the result of a lengthy investigation by the cyber patrol unit, which acted on complaints from a group of victims who had formed a Line chat group. Marisa had promoted her mobile phone and accessories shop on Facebook and Instagram, requiring customers to pay a down payment before they could receive their products on an installment plan. However, she failed to deliver the products and closed her shop’s page, leaving customers out of pocket.
Initially, Marisa’s clientele, mainly from Samut Prakan province, were acquaintances who agreed to her installment plan, where delivery of items such as mobile phones and tablets was promised after 50% of the payment was completed. Her following grew to over 10,000, bringing in more customers who had to provide their national ID cards to make purchases.
However, when the customers paid more than 50% and did not continue their payments, Marisa changed her policy, requiring new customers to pay a specified down payment to continue the installment plan. She used new customers’ down payments to settle old customers’ products, leading to a liquidity crisis and the eventual closure of her online shop, reported KhaoSod.
Upon her arrest, Marisa confessed that she did not intend to defraud anyone. She mentioned that some customers made down payments but did not continue with their installments, which caused her financial difficulties. She tried to refund customers but could not cover them all. Moreover, Marisa faced additional warrants from the courts of Lom Sak dated February 9, 2023, Phayao dated August 24, 2023, and another from the Criminal Court dated September 27, 2023, all for similar offences.
Marisa was taken into custody and transferred to the Bang Khun Thian police station for further legal proceedings.
