Thirty people filed a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) yesterday accusing a teacher in Bangkok's Dusit district of fraud relating to the purchase of their motor vehicles, some of which later surfaced in Cambodia.
The accused teacher was identified by police only as Rachayon.
Some of the complainants had bought cars, pickups or motorcycles on a hire-purchase basis but were unable to meet the payments and subsequently offered them for sale. Others were just trying to sell a vehicle they owned.
The buyers were expected to make a down payment and either take over the higher purchase instalments or pay instalments directly to the seller. Ownership would be transferred when the vehicles were paid off.
Mr Rachayon took them up on their offers to sell and agreed to buy their vehicles. They handed them over after receiving the agreed-on initial down payments.
They alleged that Mr Rachayon paid a few instalments and then disappeared, leaving them out of pocket. Those with hire-purchase contracts were also still legally responsible for the payments, even though they were no longer in possession of the vehicles.
One complainant, Tantikorn Pomsuwan, 40, said that in September last year he offered his Ford pickup for sale on Facebook. It was still under a hire-purchase arrangement, but he did not have the money to complete the payments.
Mr Rachayon gave him a 100,000-baht down payment and agreed to take over the instalments. But after four or five payments he could no longer be contacted.
Mr Tantikorn said he repeatedly visited Mr Rachayon's school but was finally told on Oct 16 that the teacher had not turned up for work for many days.
Mr Tantikorn claimed that 50 other people had been duped by Mr Rachayon with the total damage amounting to 50 million baht.
He said he contacted other victims and formed the group of 30 people who filed a complaint with the CSD.
He said some of the victims had traced their vehicles using the installed GPS and found they were in Cambodia.
The CSD accepted the complaint for investigation.