A young man selling online fake medical certificates, including for Covid-19, has been arrested in Lat Phrao district, Bangkok.
Police arrested Phitchayaphat Somsri, 24, at a house on Soi Nakniwas 48 in Lat Phrao area on April 13, with many tools used in falsifying medical certificates seized.
The items included 17 fake stamps bearing the names of private and public hospitals, 95 fake medical certificates, a computer containing forms of 65 hospitals, a mobile phone and two books containing Thailand Post’s EMS labels, Tourist Police Bureau commissioner Pol Lt Gen Chettha Komolwattana said on Tuesday.
The arrest came after the police received a complaint that a social media user had allegedly producing fake doctor certificates and sold them online to those wanting to use them for sick leave, job application or other purposes. Thai and foreign nationals had allegedly hired him to produce fake documents, said Pol Lt Gen Chettha.
Investigators had coordinated with Pol Maj Gen Torsak Sukwimol, deputy chief of the Central Investigation Bureau, to probe and track down the Line chat user and the Facebook page offering medical certificates for sale. The service fee was 1,000 baht each.
The tourist police chief said the two accounts also provided fake medical certificates for Covid-19 symptoms for which the buyer was charged 800 baht each.
After obtaining the evidence, the investigators sought court approval to search the house in Lat Phrao that led to the arrest of the suspect.
During the interrogation, Mr Phitchayaphat confessed to having the Facebook page that sold fake medical certificates, both in Thai and English. He claimed he had done this for about one year.
The suspect implicated a woman called Ms Pub who he claimed had hired him and sent him fake hospital stamps and other items. He claimed he had been given 400 baht per certificate and earned about 40,000-50,000 baht a month.
Police would extend the investigation.They handed over the suspect to Chok Chai police for legal action.