Last week a 28-year-old staff of the Railway Double Track Construction Project Ms. Chonthicha Innoi, (who happens to be the daughter of Deputy Director of Prachuap Khiri Khan police station) reported that she has been scammed through Facebook by a certain ‘relative’.
Ms. Chonticha told the inquiry officer, Pol. Lt. Prasong Chaturat of Hua Hin police station that after receiving several messages from the relative in borrowing money through Facebook. The relative frequently borrowed her money and each time, the money was returned on a specific date. In a recent transaction, Ms. Chonticha was asked by the ‘relative’ to transfer 3,000 Baht through the Siam Commercial Bank E-Commerce app via her smartphone.
The money went into the account of a recipient named Mr. Amrit Thongsod. When the money was not returned on its due date, she then tried to contact the recipient but found out that his Facebook account has been hacked and that this account name was a scam. Shortly, Ms. Chonthicha discovered that the account where she wired the money to has multiple deposit accounts that were presumably used in swindling victims. Many of these victims were from Hua Hin district. It was believed that more than a million Baht was tricked by lending money to this hacker disguised as a ‘relative’ of the victims.
The investigative police said that there would be a subpoena to notify the manager of Siam Commercial Bank to investigate the matter and take legal action as soon as possible. Police later found out that the owner of the bank account, Amrit Thongsod is residing in Kanchanaburi Province.
Anonymously, someone must have hacked into his account and used it for scam operations. Pol. Col. Pitee Innoi, Deputy Director of the Prachuap Khiri Khan police station, told that the case of his daughter is an example of a genuine scammer (disguised as a relative) trying to borrow money through different social media platforms i.e. Facebook, Messenger or LINE.
He advised that before lending money to a close relative who have communicated with you through online messages, it is wise to call and verify with your relative through their own mobile phone before trusting them in lending off your money. The case has now been filed to the Provincial Investigation Division 7 to follow up the investigation and arrest the criminal(s). Police suspected that it is a part of a huge network victimizing net citizens throughout the country.
By Hua Hin Today
