Two arrested in Lopburi over alleged Bt400m lottery ticket fraud

[webfact]

Two arrested in Lopburi over alleged Bt400m lottery ticket fraud

By THE NATION

 

 

Lopburi police on Sunday arrested Thossaphon Jitmaen and Yutthana Thongkham, who are accused of cheating lottery ticket sellers.

 

The two were picked up from a house in Khoksamrong district of Lopburi province.

 

On October 7, more than 100 lottery ticket sellers in Surin province had filed a police complaint that two distributors had taken their money but failed to deliver the lottery tickets for the October 16 and November 1 draws, worth over Bt400 million.

 

 

One of the plaintiffs said the suspects had invited them to buy lottery tickets at a price of Bt80 each, but they had to buy in bulk of at least 500 tickets. “They delivered the first 4-5 lots on time, but in October we could no longer contact them despite already having given them the money,” they said. “After their arrest, we have submitted an appeal to the police to deny them bail as they might get out and coerce the sellers.”

 

Police said that the suspects had fled from Surin and hid at a house in Lopburi. Police also reportedly found Bt700,000 cash and some gold jewellery in the house.

 

The two suspects have reportedly confessed to the alleged fraud, but said that the money they received was less than Bt400 million.

 

They were taken to Muang Lopburi Police Station for interrogation.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30398006

 

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[CharlieH]

700k ? So why 8 on the table ? Just an observation.????

Probably fogot to pocket that one.

[tonray]

15 minutes ago, webfact said:

One of the plaintiffs said the suspects had invited them to buy lottery tickets at a price of Bt80 each, but they had to buy in bulk of at least 500 tickets.

If they can only legally sell tickets at 80 baht on the street....what kind of sense would buying them at 80 baht make ? And before everyone screams that nobody sells at 80 baht...in my 5 years here I have never seen a ticket sold for more than 80 baht for a ticket pair. 

[edwinchester]

8 minutes ago, tonray said:

If they can only legally sell tickets at 80 baht on the street....what kind of sense would buying them at 80 baht make ? And before everyone screams that nobody sells at 80 baht...in my 5 years here I have never seen a ticket sold for more than 80 baht for a ticket pair. 

The distribution network is open to abuse. Those at the top sell to the small time sellers. There are too many sellers so many are forced to buy their allocation at an inflated price.

[CharlieH]

Still doing NOTHING about sellers inflating the price from the stated/printed 80 baht to 100 + though are they.

[ezzra]

Thais cheating Thais, so what else is new... all in the family....

[Jeffrey346]

3 hours ago, tonray said:

If they can only legally sell tickets at 80 baht on the street....what kind of sense would buying them at 80 baht make ? And before everyone screams that nobody sells at 80 baht...in my 5 years here I have never seen a ticket sold for more than 80 baht for a ticket pair. 

In front of Big C they are selling a pair for 200 and 5 all the same numbers for 600. This has been going on for at least a year.

[wombat]

4 hours ago, tonray said:

If they can only legally sell tickets at 80 baht on the street....what kind of sense would buying them at 80 baht make ? And before everyone screams that nobody sells at 80 baht...in my 5 years here I have never seen a ticket sold for more than 80 baht for a ticket pair. 

Wat Chai markets its 100 baht a single ticket

[hasitha77]

I have seen a very few people sell tickets for 80 baht. But no wonder many people sell their tickets for 100 baht since the distributors already cut off the profit margin at 80 baht. GLO then should consider their selling price for ticket distributors at the first place. 

[ChrisKC]

Not a problem, if I am offered lottery tickets for more than B80, I just ignore them. The Lottery is just a flutter for me.

[luckyscruff]

I thought that I had read some time ago that the government were clamping down on sellers who sold for more than the 80 bhat stated .

I to will only buy at 80 bhat , more than that I point to the price and walk away .

[rwill]

6 hours ago, tonray said:

If they can only legally sell tickets at 80 baht on the street....what kind of sense would buying them at 80 baht make ? And before everyone screams that nobody sells at 80 baht...in my 5 years here I have never seen a ticket sold for more than 80 baht for a ticket pair. 

I would say that only 20% of the tickets are sold for 80 baht.  And that is from ones with permanent stalls who also make money cashing in peoples winners for a percentage.

[Tarteso]

Good luck! ... boys. 

[ronaldo0]

So the buyers are basically valuing each of the tickets these two promised to supply at 6 million bht  as potential jackpot winning tickets .  Otherwise where do they get the number of 400 m bht ? 

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

One of the plaintiffs said the suspects had invited them to buy lottery tickets at a price of Bt80 each, but they had to buy in bulk of at least 500 tickets

Do the sellers buys tickets from anyone or should they not come direct from a secure source?

[CanadaSam]

Out of curiosity, does anybody know what would happen if a foreigner won a substantial amount in the lottery here?

 

Are we even allowed to claim the prize, and are there huge taxes to be paid, etc.?

[sanuk711]

6 hours ago, ezzra said:

Thais cheating Thais, so what else is new... all in the family...

 

Gosh yer ezzra....I am glad Farangs would never do that..........

 

[seancbk]

1 hour ago, ChrisKC said:

Not a problem, if I am offered lottery tickets for more than B80, I just ignore them. The Lottery is just a flutter for me.

 

I thought farang weren't allowed to buy them.  Or was it that we are not allowed to collect winnings?

[Nanaplaza666]

48 minutes ago, ronaldo0 said:

So the buyers are basically valuing each of the tickets these two promised to supply at 6 million bht  as potential jackpot winning tickets .  Otherwise where do they get the number of 400 m bht ? 

100 sellers 400milj baht that would mean each buyer buys 4 milj worth of tickets ?? My first geuss as well where they get that nr from ?? 

[ThailandRyan]

7 hours ago, tonray said:

If they can only legally sell tickets at 80 baht on the street....what kind of sense would buying them at 80 baht make ? And before everyone screams that nobody sells at 80 baht...in my 5 years here I have never seen a ticket sold for more than 80 baht for a ticket pair. 

There are those that sell them for the correct price, and then there are those that sell them for 100 Baht, or the 2/12 tickets for 200 Baht.  It all depends on how much extra they want. Certain numbers the sellers deem as auspicious sell for 120 or more.  Yes they are suppose to be sold as a pair for 80 Baht per the GLO, so that you can share the winnings with a friend, but then what good does that do for the vendor, instead they split the tickets up for either 80 baht or 100 baht a piece, or as I said 200 for the pair.

[teacherclaire]

7 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Still doing NOTHING about sellers inflating the price from the stated/printed 80 baht to 100 + though are they.

Yep, it was for about a week that you could buy them for 80.

 

   And their cheapo trick to make them to sets, suc_s big time. 

[ThailandRyan]

24 minutes ago, CanadaSam said:

Out of curiosity, does anybody know what would happen if a foreigner won a substantial amount in the lottery here?

 

Are we even allowed to claim the prize, and are there huge taxes to be paid, etc.?

Of course a foreigner can win the prizes that are awarded for the numbers drawn.  Obviously for the big amounts you will have to pay taxes to the Thai Government. Hope the below answers your question.

 

Are foreigners allowed to win in the Thailand National Lottery? Yes, the government allows any person whether local or foreign can play and collect their winnings provided they are at least 20 years old at the time of their win. This government-sanctioned lottery has two draws every month, with results broadcasted on the 1st and 16th days of the month. Those who will win in the National Lottery are given a maximum of two years to claim their prizes.

 

Ticket winners of prizes less than or equivalent to 20,000 baht may claim the prizes from the vendor who sold the winning ticket. Prizes of more than 20,000 baht must be personally claimed at the GLO head office located at 359 Nonthaburi Road, Tambon Tha Sai, Muang District, Nonthaburi. Lottery winners will be given checks for their prizes. Winners can claim prizes Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. The office does not have any lunch break and they are closed on declared public holidays.

Lottery winners will be asked to fill out a claim form. They should also write the necessary details at the back of the winning ticket. Winners must be able to present the winning ticket together with a Thai identification card or passport for foreign bettors.

Keep in mind that the winners will shoulder a 0.5% stamp duty on winnings from government lottery and 1% stamp duty on winnings from charitable lotteries. The stamp duty is applicable on all winnings, including those that amount to 20,000 or less.

[hasitha77]

40 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Ticket winners of prizes less than or equivalent to 20,000 baht may claim the prizes from the vendor who sold the winning ticket

we have to go and find that random vendor? 

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, hasitha77 said:

we have to go and find that random vendor? 

No, you can find any vendor that will cash it out for you,  I cashed out a double ticket winner of 4,000 baht 2 weeks ago, and the vendor I found took 400 Baht to cash it for me.  Yes I walked with 3,600 Baht from that transaction.  I am sure that if the same vendor cashes many tickets he ends up with a tidy sum, maybe like the guy who crashed and burned on his scooter a few weeks ago where they found several hundred tickets worth a tidy sum.

[Walter Travolta]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

Do the sellers buys tickets from anyone or should they not come direct from a secure source?

You would imagine, to avoid this, that a government source only would supply the tickets ????‍♂️

[TPI]

In Phrae in have never seen the price lower than Bt100 per ticket and I've been around for a few years!

[chickenslegs]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

There are those that sell them for the correct price, and then there are those that sell them for 100 Baht, or the 2/12 tickets for 200 Baht.  It all depends on how much extra they want. Certain numbers the sellers deem as auspicious sell for 120 or more.  Yes they are suppose to be sold as a pair for 80 Baht per the GLO, so that you can share the winnings with a friend, but then what good does that do for the vendor, instead they split the tickets up for either 80 baht or 100 baht a piece, or as I said 200 for the pair.

No longer sold as pairs.

One ticket for 80 baht since about 2015 when the PM promised to reform the system and stop the inflated prices.

 

Edit: I was wrong about the date. The change was made in 2018.

[Susco]

4 minutes ago, TPI said:

In Phrae in have never seen the price lower than Bt100 per ticket and I've been around for a few years!

I'm sure you are confused, because it is the first thing Prayuth fixed when he grabbed came in power

[ronaldo0]

1 hour ago, hasitha77 said:

we have to go and find that random vendor? 

Most people take them into gold shops as they usually buy them for a fee .

[Dexxter]

My wife just won 4000 baht for a 60 baht ticket she bought online. She is over the moon about it because if she bought the same ticket for 80 baht on the street she would have only won 2000 baht. Cheaper ticket for double the prize. The legitimacy of the online lottery was lost in translation when I quizzed her if it was part of the legit government lottery or a black market privately run one, hence illegal. Anyway, I stopped asking and just basked in her joy for having won a prize the first time in her life.

Personally, I win the lottery every week because I never buy a ticket. ????