The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) is investigating a woman accused of forcing a two-year-old boy to swallow bleach then posting video clips of the ailing toddler to swindle donations from sympathetic good samaritans.
Police suspect she is not the biological mother of the boy, despite her claims to the contrary in her online pleas for cash.
The CSD said the woman, Nittha Wongwan, 29, was trying to raise several million baht in donations. The case which was being investigated by local police in Pathum Thani province where the suspect was arrested last week before being transferred to the CSD.
"Police are looking into at least 20 suspicious aspects of this case," a police source said. "One major question is whether or not the suspect is the real mother of the two-year-old boy."
The source said police were testing DNA samples to determine if Ms Nittha is the biological mother. She is known to be a single mother who lives under the same roof as her father and brought up the toddler. Reports say she has a birth certificate saying she is the legal mother of the two-year-old, but no father's name is given.
Ms Nittha, who was arrested last Monday, faces charges of exploiting the child, attempted homicide and fraud. The boy has been admitted to the Thammasat Hospital, according to the police investigation. He was vomiting blood and a doctor found his digestive tract had corroded "like it was damaged by acid".
Police found the suspect used images and video clips of the toddler to get people to buy her face masks so she could pay for medical treatment. They said she had previously posted pictures of a gravely-ill four-year-old girl who had since died. She told police she had adopted the four-year-old girl who had died from similar symptoms.
Police said she had four bank accounts which had received 10 million baht transferred from 3,000 netizens. She denied the charges.