Police stations under the Metropolitan Police Bureau's Division 6 are on the look out for fraud in which old Thai-Chinese women are lured by a Chinese-speaking gang into a fortune-telling scam.
Three Chinese suspects linked to the scam were arrested earlier this month.
On Aug 3, officers from the Chakkrawat, Phlap Phla Chai Area 1 and Yannawa police stations arrested three Chinese nationals, two women and one man, and seized 6,825 yuan (37,000 baht) and 13,770 baht cash they had allegedly swindled from their elderly victims.
The suspects were identified as Sai Sianghua, 39; Liang Faying, 50; and Chen Mincheng, 67. They are allegedly members of a gang that has robbed well-to-do old women out of a total of some 9 million baht recently.
Police have received complaints about the scam since late last year, often stemming from encounters at markets in the Thai-Chinese communities of Yaowarat and Yannawa.
Victims were approached by a group of Chinese-speaking people who talk them into believing that they or their family are facing a bad omen that could prove fatal if it is not pushed away by a Chinese ritual.
The victims were asked to attend a ritual and bring their valuables along. They were asked to put their valuables into a black rubbish bin liner, take them to a rite performed by a "master" fortuneteller, then take the bag back home and leave it unopened for 15 days.
In most cases, the victims became suspicious, opened the bag and realised they had been conned because their valuables were of course not in the bag. The gang switched the bag on them with one containing non-valuable items of a similar weight.
On Aug 25 last year, Rattiya Eimworawutthikul, 61, told police she lost gold necklaces, diamond rings and cash totaling 130,000 baht to the gang when she agreed to attend the rite. She was approached by a Mandarin-speaking gang while she was shopping at the Saint Louise market in the Yannawa area.
Later on April 14, another case emerged. Chutima Treewitthayaphum, 67, was conned into agreeing to take part in a similar bad-luck cleansing ritual.
Again, a Chinese-speaking group approached the victim with a similar story. While she was walking on Mangkon Road, they approached her with a story that her daughter, who was studying abroad, could die if she failed to attend a bad-luck removing rite with a Chinese fortuneteller.
Ms Chutima put her valuables - cash in US dollars, Japanese yen and Korean won and gold withdrawn from a bank safe - in a black rubbish bag and went to attend the rite. Again she was told by the Chinese fortuneteller not to open the bag for 15 days. Like other victims she didn't realise she had brought home a different bag until she opened it later to find milk and drinking water inside.
Chayapol: Stations in area worked together
On June 15, Supha Aphiwatthanakul, 75, the mother of well-known doctor Metha Aphiwatthanakul, of the Prasat Neurological Institute, lodged a complaint with Phlap Phla Chai Area 1 police that she had lost her cash in foreign currencies, jewellery and gold bars worth a total of 7 million baht to a similar gang.
Most recently, a victim who did not want to be identified told police on June 27 she was approached by a three-member gang who tried to befriend her while she was shopping at Talat Kao market in the Chakkrawat area. She told them she wasn't interested and walked away.
But shortly after that a new face turned up with an even scarier story that her daughter might die if she didn't seek a rite to ward off the bad luck. The trick worked and she ended up losing diamond rings, diamond earrings, gold necklaces and cash worth 526,200 baht.
Following the complaints, the police stations in the area where the victims were approached started working together to track down the gang, said Pol Maj Gen Chayapol Chatchaiyadech, chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's Division 6.
Based on evidence they found including images of suspects taken from security cameras, investigators began tracking a group of suspects and narrowed down the list to the three they arrested on Aug 3. The suspects denied any wrongdoing. "All victims identified the suspects and police have pictures of them while attempting to con the victims as evidence," said Pol Maj Gen Chayapol.
Pol Col Nakharin Sukhonthawit, chief of the Phlap Phla Chai Area 1 station, said one of the spots where this scam is most likely to come up is the Wat Leng Nei Yi area, a popular tourist attraction and shopping place drawing Thai-Chinese visitors from all over the country.
Contact Crime Track: crimetrack@bangkokpost.co.th