Police have arrested a man and charged him with posing as doctor to defraud people in bogus sales of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Veerasak Suksamdang, 26, was nabbed outside a cement production plant in Kaeng Khoi district of Saraburi on Tuesday.
He was wanted on a warrant issued by Udon Thani provincial court.
The arrest was made after Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) commissioner Pol Lt Gen Torsak Sukwimol ordered an investigation into the vaccine fraud case.
Mr Veerasak has been charged with duping people in Udon Thani into buying non-existent Sinopharm vaccine, posing as a doctor and importing misinformation into a computer system.
On June 30, a group of people filed a complaint with Udon Thani's Muang district police alleging they were victims of a scam.
They told police they had been tricked into buying the Sinopharm vaccine for 1,800 baht a dose from people pretending to be doctors.
The bogus doctors, who claimed the vaccine was leftover from a quota allocated to the Federation of Thai Industries, also promised to secure them inoculation appointments.
At least 200 people paid about 360,000 baht for the non-existent vaccine.
Last Friday, police also arrested a man identified as Ronnakorn Phuttharaksa, a gang member who passed himself off as a doctor, in Saraburi.
Mr Ronnakorn allegedly confessed to the crime. He told police he was unemployed and was looking to make easy money.
The gang started a group in the Line chat app where people could inquire about buying the vaccine. Mr Ronnakorn said he posed as a doctor to answer those queries.
The victims realised they had been cheated after finding their names were not down for vaccination appointments as claimed. They alerted police.
Mr Ronnakorn said he split the earnings from the scam among other gang members. He was handed over to Udon Thani police for further investigation.