Car owners sucked in by rental scam

Car owners sucked in by rental scam

A group of angry car owners has asked police to arrest a woman they allege enticed them to rent out their vehicles to foreigners in Pattaya at high rates, and then instead mortgaged their vehicles and fled with the money.

Eleven victims of the car-rental racket on Wednesday filed a complaint with police in Chon Buri’s Sattahip district accusing Passaraporn Buabok of swindling them out of 10 million baht worth of cars, Thai media reported.

Ms Passaporn, 45, a resident of Sattahip district, had allegedly persuaded the victims into the business of renting out their cars and pickup trucks to foreigners living in Pattaya, through her as agent.

She promised them a monthly rental fee of 25,000 baht per car, said Jetiya Boonthawee, 29, who led the complainants from Sattahip district to file the complaint.

The victims had brought a total of 23 vehicles, sedans and pickup trucks, to the woman in the expectation they would receive the high income she promised.

The woman had asked them to sign contracts renting their vehicles to her, said Ms Jetiya. Because of the contracts, they were inclined to trust the woman.

She had personally given two cars to Ms Passaporn to rent out. Neither she nor the other victims  had ever received any fees from the woman for almost two months. 

She later learned that the woman had taken her cars and mortgaged them to another person in return for money. She had tried to contact her to ask for the return of her vehicles, but the woman was uncontactable.

The complainants asked police to quickly bring the woman to task.

Pol Col Pichitpong Yodpikul, an investigator at Sattahip station, said police had initially pressed swindling charges against Ms Passaraporn. She would be tracked down.

A preliminary investigation found all vehicles rented out to the woman had been mortgaged in several areas, said Pol Col Pichitpong. She was believed to be part of a gang. The investigation would be extended to include the other members.

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