NAKHON SI THAMMARAT - A 35-year-old man found himself in trouble after his lost ID card was used by two brothers to open bank accounts and cheat online shoppers.
Police on Monday arrested Ekkalak Puangsamphao, 33, and his 19-year-old brother, identified only as Kai, at a rented house near a market in Sichon district of this southern province. The brothers had allegedly used an ID card of another person to open four bank accounts to receive money transfers from shoppers buying non-existent products from their Facebook page and another website.
The duo had received more than 300,000 baht within three months, Thai media reported on Monday.
The arrests came after Panthaya Sridam, 35, a native of Sichon district, lodged a complaint with police that someone had used his ID card which he had lost at Sichon Hospital to open a bank account in the district to cheat online shoppers.
He learned about it after police in Lop Buri’s Thawung district issued a summons for him to acknowledge swindling charges.
Mr Panthaya told Sichon police he had no knowledge of the fraud. Three more bank accounts were later opened in Sichon district under his name with the lost ID card.
Pol Col Chokdee Rakwattanapong, chief of Sichon police, said police began the investigation after receiving the complaint from Mr Panthaya.
They had sought footage of closed-circuit cameras from banks which provided clues about the suspects.
The investigators found more than 300,000 baht had been transferred into the bank accounts opened by the suspects within three months.
The shoppers had been lured into buying high-value goods, such as smartphones, computer notebooks and Buddha amulets on “Bed Room’’ Facebook page opened by the two suspects, who also sold the items on kaidee.com classified website, said Pol Col Chokdee. They never received the goods after transferring the money to them.
A criminal record showed Mr Kai was wanted on three arrest warrants for swindling charges. The pair reportedly confessed to the charges and were held in police custody for legal action.
Thairath Online reported that Mr Panthaya was in trouble after his ID card was used by the suspects to swindle money from others. As he had no money, he had to borrow from relatives for the cost of travelling to Thawung police station in central Lop Buri province after the summons warrant had been issued for him.
He called on banks to be more careful about account opening and to ask for more documents than just an ID card, said the local resident.
Some bank branches did not cooperate with police as they assumed he colluded with the swindlers, he claimed. The banks were also at fault for failing to properly check documents, he noted.
He said he had sent complaints to the head offices of the bank branches for not cooperating. He did not give the names of the accused branches.
A Thai citizen must apply for a new ID card at a district office if he has lost it. Earlier, he was also required to report to police and to use a copy of the police report to apply for a new one but this requirement was later scrapped. It is not clear whether Mr Panthaya had done that or how officials invalidate a lost ID card once they issue a new one for the same person.