BURI RAM: The manager of a lending company has been arrested for stealing almost 200,000 baht from its customers' accounts.
The manager allegedly used the documents of three customers to change their personal data, allowing him to obtain cash cards that were then used to withdraw money from the victims’ loan accounts.
Investigators from Provincial Police Region 3 and local police, armed with an arrest warrant issued by the Buri Ram Provincial Court, arrested a man identified only as Anurak, 32, the manager of a lending firm in Muang district on Wednesday, police said.
The arrest came after three people who were customers of the lending company filed a complaint with police at Muang police station that someone had used their names to apply for cash cards that were used to withdraw money they transferred to the company for loan repayments. This caused their outstanding debt balances to be inaccurate.
Almost 200,000 baht had been withdrawn from their loan accounts in December last year despite the fact that they had no cash cards to withdraw the money.
Following a police investigation, officers sought court approval to arrest Mr Anurak, who worked as the manager of the lending firm where the victims received loans.
Police said that on seeing the arrest warrant, Mr Anurak admitted to having withdrawn money from his customers’ loan accounts. Police searched his room and seized clothes he wore when going to withdraw cash from ATM booths, as captured in footage from closed-circuit television cameras.
A mobile phone and a pickup truck were also seized from him, but the cash cards he obtained under the victims’ names were not found. He claimed he had thrown them away and could not remember where.
During questionining, he said he had worked at the lending company since it was established. He later found a way to steal money from customers’ loan accounts by using the personal documents submitted to the firm. He had used those documents to change the customers’ mobile phone numbers and other personal data before applying for cash cards on the victims’ behalf. He then used the cards to withdraw money. He claimed he was motivated by informal debts that he was unable to pay.
Police charged him with theft and illegally using others' electronic cards to cause damage to other people.