Fake cop repeatedly scams people in central Thailand, gambles the dirty money away in Cambodia

A Thai man posing as a police officer has been arrested in Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya province. The fake cop used his uniform to appear trustworthy but was in fact scamming people all over central Thailand.

The “policeman” said he took the dirty money to gamble in Poipet, Cambodia, and would return to scam people again after gambling it all away.

Yesterday at 2.30pm, 40 year Pairat Unha – a village chief in Chang Lek subdistrict – called officers at Bang Sai Police Station about a suspicious-looking police officer claiming to hold the rank of lieutenant.

Pairat said the officer came to his village trying to sell him cows, but there was something off about him, so he asked the police to come and investigate.

Real police officers in plain clothes went to the scene and spoke to the man dressed in brown, who told them he was Pol. Col. Wuttisak Phittakchan-im.

When the plainclothes officers asked to see his police ID card, the “lieutenant” tried to escape. So the officers detained him and took him into custody.

Inside his pickup truck, police found police equipment, shirts, hats, name tags and several fake car registration plates.

Police investigated and found that the 58 year old’s fake cop’s name is in fact Wuttisak Phittakchan-im, but he is not a real policeman.

Village Chief Pairat said he was taking care of his cows at home yesterday when the police officer arrives and showed him pictures of cows and buffaloes on sale for 250,000 baht each.

The police officer said he would give Pairat a discount of 1000 baht on each animal if he bought all 20 of them.

However, Chief Pairat said he’d seen the photos before in a cattle traders LINE group chat, so he knew the “policeman” was lying.

Police found another victim, 26 year old Amnat Ayupool, who informed police that the fake cop scammed him out of 330,000 baht. This time, the scam took place at Pattanakarn Estate in Lop Buri province.

Amnat said the same thing happened and he gave the fake cop 330,000 baht in cash in exchange for some cows. He said that because he was dressed in a police uniform, he trusted him. But the cows were never delivered.

During interrogation, Wuttisak admitted that would dress up in a police uniform to create a sense of false credibility and then scam people.

Wuttisak said he would take the dirty money and use it to gamble just across the border in Poipet, Cambodia. When the money ran out, he’d return to the central Thai provinces and use the cow scam again.

Deputy Commander of Pra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Provincial Police, Pol. Col. Teerawut Saengmanee said this criminal deceived people by dressing as a policeman and would be prosecuted fully.

Pol. Col. Teerawut believes there to be many more victims in the case.