A foreign-educated man has been arrested for allegedly stealing a businessman's identification and using it to withdraw almost 400,000 baht from the victim's bank accounts.
Arnonwat Woramethachayangkul, 34, was caught by police outside the central prison in Samut Prakan yesterday.
Metropolitan Police Bureau commissioner Pakkapong Pongpetra said Kasidit Visetthanakorn, a 31-year-old businessman, had complained to Huai Khwang police in Bangkok after he discovered 395,000 baht had been stolen from his accounts.
The withdrawals were made after he and his family spent their holidays at a five-star hotel in Pattaya in the middle of last month. During his holiday, he received a phone call saying he had won lucky-draw prizes including a mobile phone and a two-night hotel stay.
A few days later, the phone was delivered to his house in Bangkok. Mr Kasidit was told by the delivery man that he must insert his SIM in the phone and leave it in for two hours to confirm his receipt of the prizes.
The businessman said that a short while later he found money had disappeared from his accounts.
The phone was delivered to Mr Kasidit by Niwat Lueangsirichian, a former news anchor. He was hired by Mr Arnonwat for 5,000 baht to make the delivery but received only half the payment, according to the police.
Mr Niwat told police he had never met Mr Arnonwat in person and that they only had contact online.
Pol Col Phuris Jintranant, chief of Huai Khwang police, said Mr Arnonwat had studied computer science in Germany before returning to Thailand and landing a high-paying job in Bangkok.
He later quit and became unemployed before deciding to engineer the scam. The suspect might have received personal information about Mr Kasidit from someone close to the businessman, Pol Col Phuris said.