The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has arrested the alleged leader of a lottery scam gang which has duped more than 10,000 people.
The suspect allegedly led a criminal network which convinced people they could receive government lottery results in advance by paying subscription fees.
DSI officers arrested Thanawat Phukthong at his home in Nakhon Sawan's Muang district yesterday.
The suspect has been charged with deceiving the public by forging the Government Lottery Office (GLO) logo and the signatures of several of its directors, DSI chief Tarit Pengdith said.
Mr Thanawat's gang is just one of the many lottery scam gangs in operation that are preying on the public, Mr Tarit warned. The GLO asked the DSI to investigate the lottery scams in 2009, Mr Tarit said. The DSI took it up as a special case last year after it found there were several gangs operating.
The gangs often send letters to potential victims claiming the GLO is offering a scheme to return profit to patrons by locking in the lottery results for them, Mr Tarit said.
Those who are interested in joining the scheme must subscribe by transferring 5,000 baht to 10,000 baht to a specified bank account.
The letters bear the official logo of the GLO and the director's signature. At least three directors have had their signatures falsified by fraud gangs, the DSI found.
Mr Tarit said the gang lured over 10,000 people into paying membership fees.
The DSI has frozen more than 10 bank accounts belonging to Mr Thanawat, some of which contain several million baht.
The suspect's gang allegedly hired people to open bank accounts to receive money transfers from the people who had been duped by the scheme, the DSI chief said. Mr Thanawat allegedly confessed to running the operation. He told officers he gave out the lottery results to members based on his own calculations. He said he was not capable of rigging the lottery. He had been running the scheme since 1993, Mr Tarit said.
GLO director Pol Maj Gen Atthakrit Thareechat said the lottery office cannot rig lottery results. He stressed that no GLO officials were involved in the scams.