Taxi driver arrested in iPhone con

Taxi driver arrested in iPhone con

A taxi driver has been arrested by police and charged with extortion after he allegedly demanded money from a customer in exchange for her iPhone, which she left in his taxi in the Thong Lor area.

Mongkol Srijanpan, 26, found the phone belonging to Aye (real name withheld) who left it in his taxi after he drove her from a restaurant on Rama III Road and dropped her off in Sukhumvit Soi 31 around 1am yesterday. However, instead of giving it back, he demanded she pay him first.

Ms Aye filed a complaint with Thong Lor police alleging Mr Mongkol refused to return her phone unless she paid him 3,000 baht.

Ms Aye told police she immediately called her phone when she realised she had left it in the taxi. She was hoping the driver would answer the phone only to find the phone had been switched off.

She then went to Thong Lor police to file the charge and also asked the taxi call centre to help track down Mr Mongkol's taxi.

Later, Mr Mongkol phoned her and pretended to be a stranger who had found the phone by accident. However, he demanded she pay him 3,000 baht in exchange for the phone or he would sell it.

Ms Aye agreed to meet the taxi driver to pick up her phone in Thong Lor Soi 13 yesterday. Plainclothes police accompanied her in a plot to catch Mr Mongkol.

The police moved in and nabbed the driver as he was handing over the phone to Ms Aye.

Mr Mongkol was charged with extortion after he allegedly admitted to the wrongdoing. Police suspected he might have committed a similar crime before.

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