Scam gang revelations

Bangkok woman 'admits gang tie'

Police say they are questioning a 'woman of interest' in connection with the opening of bank accounts with an ID card that owner Nicha Kiartthanapaiboon said was stolen. They also have detained a Cameroonian national known as Simon.
Police say they are questioning a 'woman of interest' in connection with the opening of bank accounts with an ID card that owner Nicha Kiartthanapaiboon said was stolen. They also have detained a Cameroonian national known as Simon.

A woman has been detained on suspicion of being involved in a call centre gang's use of a stolen ID card to open bank accounts, said a police source.

The woman was approached at her home in the Taling Chan area of Bangkok for questioning late on Saturday night and was identified only as Pawina, 30. Police suspect she used the ID card of Nicha Kiartthanapaiboon, 24, to open bank accounts for the gang.

Ms Nicha, who insists she is an innocent victim, spent three days behind bars after being detained and denied bail by police in Tak province, even though she had reported herself to the Crime Suppression Division (CSD).

According to the source, Ms Pawina admitted using Ms Nicha's ID card to open five bank accounts for the gang. She complained of being paid only 4,000 baht of the 10,000 baht that she had been promised.

She claimmed that the person who hired her was a foreigner identified only as Simon.

Meanwhile, a source said police have detained an African man, known as Simon, who used an ATM to withdraw money from the accounts opened by Ms Pawina.

Pol Col Krisana Pattanacharoen, deputy spokesman for the Royal Thai Police, confirmed that Ms Pawina is in police custody. However, she is not being treated as a suspect yet, as the police do not have sufficient evidence to request an arrest warrant.

Ms Nicha said she appreciates that progress being made in the investigation and believes the truth of her innocence will soon become clear. In response to reports that she had contacted a group of suspects by phone recently, she said this was a misunderstanding stemming from the fact that her stolen ID card was also used to register four new mobile phone numbers in Bang Yai.

As for reports she had repeatedly applied for new ID cards, she said he had done so three times, once in 2014 and twice last year, adding that she hadn't filed a complaint over the lost ID cards.

And in response to doubts over more than 6 million baht of money circulating in her real bank accounts, she said it belonged to her family and had been kept in her accounts since she was 18 years old.

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Vocabulary

  • appreciate: to be grateful for something, i.e., feeling you want to thank someone for something they have done for you - สำนึกในบุญคุณ
  • bail: money that is given to a court when someone is allowed to stay out of prison until their trial. If they do not return for the trial, the court keeps the money  - เงินประกัน; การประกันตัว
  • circulation: the passing of money from one person to another - การหมุนเวียนของเงินสด, กระแสเงิน
  • confirm (verb): to state or show that something is definitely true or correct, especially by providing evidence - ยืนยัน
  • custody: the state of being in prison or under police control, especially while waiting for trial - การกักขัง, การคุมขัง
  • detained: kept in a place and not allowed to leave - กักตัว ควบคุมตัวหรือฝากขัง
  • filed a complaint: made an official statement that someone has done something wrong - ยื่นคำร้อง
  • progress: the process of developing or of getting nearer to achieving or completing something - ความคืบหน้า
  • register (verb): to record something on a list - บันทึก
  • stemming from: being caused by - เกิดจาก
  • warrant (noun): a legal document that is signed by a judge and gives the police authority to do something - หมาย
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