Four Malaysian men have been arrested in Bangkok’s Din Daeng area for allegedly cheating a wealthy Thai woman out of 17 million baht by showing an interest in buying her resort, then duping her into gambling with them.
Police apprehended Ng Ah Jing, 49, Chew Ngan, 76, Loh Chuck Mun, 74, and Lee Kin Chian, 60, at a hotel room on Soi Ratchadapisek 17 in Din Daeng district.
Seized from them were 28 items, including cash in Singaporean and US dollars, Malaysian ringgit and Thai baht, wristwatches, mobile phones and counterfeit US banknotes.
The suspects have been charged with colluding in fraud, Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpan, acting deputy chief of the Tourist Police Bureau, said during a media briefing on Monday.
The arrests were made after the suspects allegedly lured the victim into jointly investing in a business and later duped her into gambling with them, leading to her being cheated of 17.8 million baht, he said.
Sawitchaya Tratdamrong, 56, who runs a hair treatment business, said she had earlier put an advertisement in newspapers offering to sell her resort in Chiang Mai’s Mae Taeng district for 12 million baht.
A man calling himself Andrew, who was later found to be Ng Ah Jing, one of the four Malaysians, had contacted her over the phone, expressing interest in buying the resort. On Dec 27, she met Andrew to show him the title deed and photos of her resort at a shopping mall in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao area, Thai media reported.
On Jan 3 this year, the man had phoned her, asking to be picked up at the Chiang Mai airport as he wanted to see the resort, said Ms Sawitchaya. She took the best care of him as she thought he would buy it.
On Jan 17, she and Andrew met a hotel in Bangkok’s Ratchadapisek area, where he was due to make a down payment of 10% of the resort price. They went to talk it over in a VIP room of the hotel.
When she entered the room, she found Lee Kin Chian, who claimed to be an uncle of Andrew's, and Loh Chuck Mun already inside. They told her they had to wait for Andrew’s elder brother, who turned out to be the fourth suspect, Chew Ngan.
As she wanted to sell the resort, she decided to wait for the fourth man. She said she was then encouraged to gamble with the men to kill time. She claimed she was given drinking water that made her feel dizzy. The suspects flashed US banknotes and she agreed to join in the game.
She claimed Andrew took her to withdraw 850,000 baht from a bank to pay him and his gang. She also handed over 3 million baht cash she kept in her car to the suspects.
Later, Chuck Mun arrived and joined in the gambling. She ended up losing her money, and running up a further debt of US$328,000.
She said Andrew asked her to transfer her resort title to him to pay the gambling debt. She alleged he also threatened her.
Ms Sawitchaya filed a complaint with Huai Khwang police on Jan 18.
During interrogation, all four suspects denied swindling the woman, but admitted they knew her. They also denied taking her money, Pol Maj Gen Surachet said.
They were held in police custody for legal action.