Woman Who Defrauded New Zealand Ambassador Caught After 14 Years

[webfact]

The suspect charged with scamming the New Zealand ambassador was arrested. Photo: Naewna

 

by TNR Staff

 

A THAI woman who was part of a gang that had defrauded the New Zealand Ambassador to Thailand in 2008 by making a fake copy of his credit card and spending over 10 million baht was arrested yesterday after 14 years on the run, Naewna newspaper said Wednesday (Apr. 19).

 

Central Investigation Bureau chief Pol.Lt.Gen. Jirapob Puridet and Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) head Pol. Maj. Gen. Puttidet Bunkrapue led a team in arresting Ms. Ketkanya (surname withheld), 44, under a Criminal Court warrant issued on July 17, 2009 in front of her house in Mueang district in Singburi. She has been charged with jointly forging an electronic card, jointly using a counterfeit electronic card while knowing that it was fake and forging documents.

 

In 2008 the New Zealand embassy had filed a complaint with ECD that the ambassador’s credit card had been forged and used in Thailand with damage reaching over 10 million baht.

 

Full story: https://thainewsroom.com/2023/04/19/woman-who-defrauded-new-zealand-ambassador-caught-after-14-years/

 

-- © Copyright  THAI NEWSROOM 2023-04-20

 

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[sammieuk1]

Give me a card with 10m credit on it and I would be gone also ????

[transam]

I bet she was very near a heart attack when the bloke read out the charges....????

But it seems, by the look of her, the money was gone, gambled away a looooooooong time ago...........☹️

[V8M8]

Who said that the RTP never get their Man Woman????

[Boyn]

Well it took some time but the bib got there in the end ,i wonder if it was because there was no more money to put in brown envelopes? or am i just cynical?

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Boyn said:

Well it took some time but the bib got there in the end ,i wonder if it was because there was no more money to put in brown envelopes? or am i just cynical?

I reckon grassed up.......

[ezzra]

Something doesn't make sense here, how can a 10 million be used of his credit card without all the bells in the world ringing to tell him that something is wrong here? i have 250k limit on my card, how much did the ambassador had on his card i wonder?

[transam]

2 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Something doesn't make sense here, how can a 10 million be used of his credit card without all the bells in the world ringing to tell him that something is wrong here? i have 250k limit on my card, how much did the ambassador had on his card i wonder?

Perhaps as his country's Ambassador, he had a no limit card to cover any eventuality....

[richard_smith237]

55 minutes ago, transam said:

58 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Something doesn't make sense here, how can a 10 million be used of his credit card without all the bells in the world ringing to tell him that something is wrong here? i have 250k limit on my card, how much did the ambassador had on his card i wonder?

Perhaps as his country's Ambassador, he had a no limit card to cover any eventuality....

This was before the time of ‘apps and alerts’ on our phones etc. 

 

Was the money taken in one fell sweep or over a period of time ? If it was spent within one month the victim may not have known about it until he received his statement. 

 

We have Credit Cards with over 1 MB limits - its not difficult to imagine a higher limit for someone in such a position. 

 

 

That said: The crime is extremely ‘ballsy’ or the perpetrator extremely stupid - but, they got away with it for over a decade.

Given that it took so long to catch this person I wonder IF the victim was a regular person anything owl have been done at all. 

 

My Wife and I fall victim at least once per year...   (I suspect the well known online shops ending in ee and ada)... Fortunately as soon as we spot it we alert the CC company (Thai) who refund and issue a new card - But, would they refund 1 MB ???...  

 

 

 

 

 

[hotchilli]

On 4/20/2023 at 10:19 AM, webfact said:

Central Investigation Bureau chief Pol.Lt.Gen. Jirapob Puridet and Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) head Pol. Maj. Gen. Puttidet Bunkrapue led a team in arresting Ms. Ketkanya (surname withheld), 44, under a Criminal Court warrant issued on July 17, 2009 in front of her house in Mueang district in Singburi. She has been charged with jointly forging an electronic card, jointly using a counterfeit electronic card while knowing that it was fake and forging documents.

Half crown sixpence springs to mind.

[PJ71]

On 4/20/2023 at 11:46 AM, transam said:

I reckon grassed up.......

Here, surely not......

 

People grass here?

[brianthainess]

On 4/20/2023 at 10:54 AM, sammieuk1 said:

Give me a card with 10m credit on it and I would be gone also ????

I'd want 10m USD not Baht.