Absolutely mind boggling (if true...) that a Wat held funds of nearly 1bn baht 9 years ago, I know Ubon pretty well and that seems astounding.. Maybe a massive wat in BKK or CM with celebrity benefactors...
As previous posters state, poor people hand over money to these places beyond their means.
Thankfully my Mrs sees them for what many of them are... Freeloading jailbirds lying low, trying scams on anyone they can. Not all of course, some genuine