Phuket villa manager caught faking robbery to hide lost deposits

A 21 year old luxury villa manager in Kamala Beach, Phuket, was apprehended for fabricating an assault and theft incident after failing to account for customers’ deposits.

The manager, Chananchida Harnkamjorn, confessed to concocting a story about being attacked and robbed of 100,000 baht to cover up her misuse of the funds.

The incident, initially reported to police on Monday at 3pm, was unravelled by the meticulous investigation of the Kamala Police Station, led by Colonel Somsak Thongkliang. The police were tipped off by inconsistencies between the reported crime and physical evidence.

Chananchida’s scheme came to light when she admitted to police that she had invested her customers’ villa deposits in foreign currency trading and lost the money. In a desperate attempt to deceive her employer, she claimed to have been attacked by an assailant who stole the cash. However, her plan quickly fell apart under police scrutiny.

The villa manager’s fabricated tale of being accosted by a knife-wielding assailant while riding her motorbike from work was convincingly detailed. She even self-inflicted a wound on her leg to lend credence to her report. Nonetheless, the police’s swift and thorough investigation, which included checking the timestamps on the photographs provided by Harnkamjorn, exposed the deception.

Upon being questioned again on the afternoon following the initial report, Chananchida’s story began to crumble. It was discovered that the timestamps did not align with her narrative. Further probing into her financial history and spending patterns raised red flags that led to her confession.

Chananchida’s plan hinged on the assumption that she could outwit the police and her employer by creating a believable scenario of violent theft. She intended to recoup the lost funds through stock market investments but the police’s efficiency and investigative prowess preempted her intentions.

In her confession, Chananchida expressed her belief that she would have been able to recover the lost money through stock market investments and return it to the villa before anyone noticed. She underestimated the police’s capability to solve the case swiftly, leading to her arrest, reported KhaoSod.

The villa manager now faces charges of filing false statements with law enforcement.