One of the two women who allegedly deceived a 42-year-old woman into supplying 10,000 meals for a Phitsanulok factory was found to have been implicated in fraud cases in several provinces as well as a drug charge, according to police.
Thanita, or "Eiew", whose surname was withheld, also previously hired caterers to prepare meals on three occasions and later cancelled the orders without compensating the caterers, according to Pol Maj Gen Phayu Thanasrisuebwong, acting commander of Uttaradit police.
In the latest case, Ms Thanita and another woman, Kanhathai Suksai, were reported to have contracted Thanisorn Guikaew, an Uttaradit resident, to supply meals and drinks for a factory under a five-year contract.
Ms Thanisorn accused the two women of failing to collect the meals as agreed, costing her almost 1 million baht in lost expenses.
Ms Kanhathai claimed that Ms Thanisorn had failed to deliver the meals by 7am on Monday as required in the contract, and demanded 350,000 baht as a penalty from Ms Thanisorn, which is also stipulated in the contract.
She has so far received nothing from Ms Thanisorn and plans to sue.
Pol Maj Gen Phayu said his superiors are paying close attention to the case and have instructed investigators to expedite the probe.
The senior policeman also said he was contacted by Atchariya Ruangratanapong, chairman of the crime victims' assistance group, to assist with the case.
"I want society to trust that fraudsters will be prosecuted," said Pol Maj Gen Phayu.
Pol Col Khiri Kiatisan, deputy commander of Uttaradit police, interviewed Ms Thanisorn Wednesday at her house in tambon Wangkaphi of Muang district.
He said police would help Ms Thanisorn deal with the uncollected meals, some of which were donated to public welfare organisations.
According to him, the Phitsanulok factory has not arranged for the meals to be delivered to their employees.
It is possible the factory, which has its own cafeteria that serves about 4,000 employees, may have no knowledge of the order, said Pol Col Khiri.
Another Phitsanulok woman claimed she was also lured into investing in a food delivery business by Ms Thanita in the middle of last year.
Ampaporn Donkampai, 31, said Eiew asked her to make 10,000 meals a day for a factory in Uttaradit.
Ms Ampaporn said if she agreed, she would have to pay 20,000 baht as a contract fee and another 100,000 baht for utensil purchases. She said she wired 100,000 baht to Eiew in August last year.
However, Ms Ampaporn withdrew from the business after she discovered the food had not been delivered to the factory.
Instead, some of the meals were distributed to local villagers while the rest were dumped in the river, according to Ms Ampaporn.