NAKHON RATCHASIMA – Police are offering a 200,000 baht reward for the capture of a wanted con man whose latest victim is a trader he defrauded of five million baht worth of gold by using loopholes in the banking system, reports said.
The owner of Phetsuwan gold shop filed a complaint with police on Sept 23 against a man he said swindled him of 200 baht weight of gold by capitalising on delays in the clearance of cheques.
The con artist, identified from the store’s surveillance camera, was named by police as Sahachart Kasemthang, 35. They said he is wanted for 10 similar crimes in his home town in Ubon Ratchathani province.
Police said it is alleged the suspect bought the gold by writing a cheque for the amount from a different bank to that used by the gold trader.
Police said the suspect had open current accounts at several banks as part of his scam.
For example, the trader’s account was with Siam Commercial Bank and he wrote a check on the Thai Military Bank and gave it to the gold dealer.
When the trader deposited the check, his account was credited with five million baht. However, there was a delay of two to seven days before the cheque could be cleared and the money actually became available. This was normal banking procedure.
When the traders saw the account had been credited with the money, they usually approved the transaction. It was not until a few days later they found out that the transaction had been cancelled because there were insufficient funds in the current account to cover the cheque, which was bounced.
Police said the trader failed to notice that the status of the deposited cheque was given as “QN”, which means that the bank is still in the process of clearing the transaction. If the cherque is not cleared and the money actually deposited into the account, the transaction is cancelled automatically.
Police said the suspect had swindled a car dealer and several gold traders in the past, using bounced cheques.
Sahachart Kasemthang is a wanted man, named on an arrest warrant issued by Nakhon Ratchasima court.
Police said any one who comes forward with information that leads to his capture will be entitled to a reward of up to 200,000 baht.
The owner of Phetsuwan gold shop said financial institutions to change the way banking transactions are done. The bank should not credit the amount to an account until the money is actually cleared, in the account and the funds available.
This would protect people from falling victim to swindlers using “loopholes” in the banking system, he said.