Five Con Artists Arrested In Phuket

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Five con artists arrested in Phuket
Kanana Kaewsomboon



PHUKET: -- Police yesterday (May 13) arrested another five members of the Gang Kwai, notorious for swindling people out of millions of baht by coercing them into gambling for cash, land deeds and other possessions.

Police question members of the gang (on sofa) in their guesthouse.

Arrested were four men, Kamol Boonruan, 50, Somchai Sooksom, 46, Pairoj Naboon, 34, and Tanapol Kotdet, 35, and one woman, Sapanee Saeng-Anun, 40.

Three are from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, one from Surat Thani and the last from Bangkok.

Undercover police who had been following the activities of the gang reported that the five were at a guesthouse in the Karon area, with a potential victim.

Pol Col Arun Kaewwatee and his team from Karon Police Station swooped on the guesthouse and caught the five red-handed, seizing two land title deeds, cash, a pick-up truck, bank books and bricks of coloured paper with bank notes on the top and bottom.

Col Arun said, “When our team arrived they were about to play a gambling game called Kam Tua (‘fistful of beans’), in which the victim has to guess how many beans or seeds are held in each hand.”

The gang’s approach to their victim was similar to previous cases. “We discovered that the victim was the owner of the salon who was trying to lease out her business. Gang Kwai saw her advertising and contacted her, pretending that they were representing a millionairess who was interested in the business.”

They invited the salon owner to a meeting to discuss the deal and then tried to persuade her to gamble with them, betting her land deeds and the contents of her bank against the bricks of “money”.

Two other members of the Gang Kwai (“Buffalo Gang” – a supposed reference to the stupidity of their victims) were arrested on February 18.

After those arrests police said the gang were believed to have cheated victims in various parts of Thailand out of more than B20 million.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/five-con-artists-arrested-in-phuket-39335.php


-- Phuket News 2013-05-14

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Phuket real estate used as bait in gambling ring
Phuket Gazette

PHUKET: -- Five people have been arrested for operating a real estate scam in which they lured potential customers into illegally gambling on a game of “fan tan”.

The scammers used the same ploy as that used by a group arrested in Phuket in February (story here).

Massage shop owner Uraiporn Sae-Tung wanted to sell her massage shop in Rawai and had put up a sign in front of her premises saying so.

On May 10, she received a call from Thanapol Kachadej, who pretended to be a broker interested in selling her shop for her, explained Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Serm Kwannimit.

“They met on May 12 to negotiate the price. Ms Uraiporn agreed to sell the shop to Mr Thanapol’s friend for 570,000 baht,” Lt Col Serm said.

“On May 13, at around 8:30am, he called her again and asked her to go with him to a hotel in Karon to meet the friend who wanted to buy her shop,” he said.

“At the hotel, she met Suphanee Sang-anun, who pretended to be the buyer. After talking for awhile, Mr Thanapol and Ms Suphanee tried to persuade her to join them in playing ‘fan tan’ for money,” he said.

Ms Uraiporn, afraid she was about to be cheated, told them she wanted to go out to get something to eat first. Once outside, she called the police, who told her to return to the room and agree to join the fan tan game.

While she was doing this, police prepared a team to arrest the swindlers.

When the police arrived at the hotel, they arrested five people: Pairoj Naboon, Somchai Suksom and Mr Thanapol, all from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, as well as Ms Suphanee and Kamol Aun-ruen from Surat Thani.

“We charged them with illegal gambling,” Col Serm said.

Police seized fake 'official documents', an Isuzu pickup truck, a license plate that should have been on the truck, gambling debt log books and other gambling paraphernalia, 12 phones, 2,000 baht in cash, copies of Ms Uraiporn’s land documents and a bankbook,” he explained.

They also found stacks of "cartoon money" that the swindlers used to pad out the stack they intended to give to Ms Uraiporn.

The gang of five has been sent to Karon Police station for further questioning and to have the charges formally pressed against them, Col Serm said.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-real-estate-used-as-bait-in-gambling-ring-21046.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-05-14

[belg]

about to sell their business, who would want to lose it all in a fake card game in the first place?

except the person is full of greed and want to double (or nothing) their money the easy way

but good for the lady she smelled a whole family of rats and good for the BIB

[vijer]

Ya, I can't really feel sorry for people that buy into these cons.