A woman wanted for presenting falsified lottery tickets to claim winning prizes from vendors in several provinces has been arrested in Bangkok’s Min Buri district.
Boonlong Chuaysanit, 38, of Kalasin province, was apprehended at a rented house in Min Buri on Tuesday.
She was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the Nakhon Pathom provincial court on Dec 8 last year for falsifying documents and using them, said Pol Maj Gen Surachate Hakparn, deputy chief of the Tourist Police Bureau (TPB), who led the operation to arrest her.
Her arrest followed complaints by many lottery vendors in Bangkok and surrounding provinces that a woman had presented forged winning lottery tickets and false ID cards and collected winning prizes from them.
They became aware the winning tickets were fakes only when they went to collect the prize money at the Government Lottery Office, which refused to pay them.
Investigators from the TPB’s division 2 began the investigation that led to the arrest of Ms Boonlong, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said.
The woman confessed to the charges. She told police she had colluded with 3 or 4 other people in using fake winning tickets to get prize money from lottery vendors' stalls and shops since 2007.
More than 100 vendors had fallen victim to the gang. They mostly collected two- and three-digit prizes, and some fourth prizes, Thai media reported.
She was handed over to Nakhon Chaisri police station in Nakhon Pathom for legal action.
Pol Maj Gen Surachate said police have extended the investigation and a 60-year-old man identified only as Dam was the leader of the fake lottery ticket racket. There were believed to be at least five other members of the gang. Police were tracking them down.
Their victims in Nakhon Chaisri alone were about 300,000 baht out of pocket, the TPB deputy chief said.
One of the victims, a ticket vendor, shows a hand written sign thanking tourist police for arresting the suspect who used fake lottery tickets to collect prize money. (Photo: Tourist Police Bureau)