Malaysian man arrested for swindling 22 million baht from retired Thai teacher
Police sets trap to catch foreign suspect, luring him to collect cash from victim
Today, police arrested a Malaysian man for posing as a policeman and medical professional to swindle more than 22 million baht from a retired Thai teacher in the central province of Uthai Thani.
The 70 year old retired teacher, Kanjana, reported to Mueang Uthai Thani police that she was tricked by a scammer. She transferred a total of over 22 million baht to the scammer and she was reportedly stressed and saddened by the loss and refused to speak to the media.
According to police, the suspect first posed as a hospital worker in Chiang Mai, contacting Kanjana to claim that her personal information in the hospital database was used in an international crime and money-laundering case.
The scammer then connected her to a third person claiming to be a police officer. They persuaded her to continue the conversation via the messaging app LINE and later asked her to transfer money to prove her innocence.
Kanjana had recently sold land by the Sakae Krang River, giving her a large bank balance. She made 12 transfers between September 30 and October 27. The first transfer was 17 million baht, while the rest ranged from hundreds of thousands to millions of baht.
In addition to bank transfers, the scammers also demanded cash. They visited Uthai Thani several times to collect 2 to 3 million baht per visit. The total loss amounted to 22,683,000 baht.
Police froze the scammers’ accounts immediately after receiving the complaint. They then launched an operation to lure the criminals into collecting more cash from Kanjana.
One of the scammers, Malaysian national Cherway Lock, later arrived at the victim’s home and was immediately arrested.
Superintendent of Mueang Uthai Thani Police Station, Phakin Wannasri, warned the public not to trust unverifiable calls from officials and said investigators are working to identify all accomplices.
In a similar case, a Thai woman sought help from the non-profit organisation Saimai Survive in October after her 74 year old mother transferred nearly 10 million baht to a scammer. She tried to stop her mother and clarify the situation, but her mother did not believe her.
She added that police also refrained from freezing all the involved mule accounts, so she sought assistance from the organisation. No further updates have been reported on whether the family managed to recover the money.
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