Thai woman arrested for operating online durian scam

Police arrested a Thai woman following numerous complaints from victims across the country who fell prey to her online durian scams.

Chananchida Khamwarn, a 27 year old resident, was tracked down and arrested by the Police Cyber Taskforce and Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Bureau. The scammer had previously faced arrest warrants issued in Khon Kaen province and Payao province.

Yesterday, in Samut Prakarn province near Bangkok, officers successfully took Chananchida into custody, where she confessed to her fraudulent activities. Explaining her motivation, she revealed her love for durian and her habit of posting numerous durian pictures on her mobile phone. The attention garnered from netizens fuelled her sinister plan to deceive people. In cases where victims threatened to report her, she would return their money as a means to dissuade further action.

Chananchida admitted her intentions of expanding her scamming repertoire beyond durian to other food-related frauds. However, her arrest thwarted these plans.

According to the police report, Chananchida initiated her fraudulent business last year, predominantly advertising durian sales on Facebook groups and Line chat groups. She lured customers with claims of high-quality durians at incredibly low prices, offering them at a mere 100 to 150 baht per kilogram, well below the market rate of at least 200 baht per kilogram.

Chananchida now faces charges of dishonestly inputting distorted or fake data into computer systems, with the potential to cause harm to the public or victims. As per Section 14 of the Computer Act, she could face imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both.

Thailand is the biggest durian exporter in the world according to a report in the Pattaya Mail. However, the conflict between sellers or farmers and buyers over the quality and price of durian constantly grabs headlines within Thailand. China, one of the key markets for Thai durians, has been compelled to cultivate their durians due to instances of scams and concerns over quality.

Recently, a Chinese tourist in Chon Buri had a dispute with a Thai durian seller. The Chinese man accused a Thai seller of selling fake durian. The vendor claimed that he did not sell durian to the Chinese man but he came to his shop, accused his durian of poor quality, and asked for his money back. Eventually, the vendor decided to resolve the matter by giving 1,000 baht to the dissatisfied Chinese customer.