Woman arrested over 'WTO Buddha statue scam'

[webfact]

Woman Arrested Over 'WTO Buddha Statue Scam'
By Khaosod English


Wanrat Rattanapol, 66, was arrested for allegedly making millions of baht from donations for a fake project to build a giant Buddhist statue that she said was sponsored by the World Trade Organisation, 2 Sept 2014.

BANGKOK — Police have arrested a woman who allegedly made millions of baht from donations for a fake project to build a giant Buddhist statue that she said was sponsored by the World Trade Organisation.

According to police, Wanrat Rattanapol, 66, gathered money from residents in Chaiyaphum province throughout the month of July, promising them the donations would go towards building "the biggest Buddha statue on earth" in the province.

Ms. Wanrat told donators the project was commissioned and partially funded by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), police said. Ms. Wanrat also reportedly told residents that the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

Ms. Wanrat is also wanted by police for another fraud she allegedly committed between 2003-2006. According to court documents, Ms. Wanrat set up a fake charity foundation that she said was supported by the United Nations and would be used to buy plots of land for the poor. She raised money from residents in Uttaradit, Lamphun, Nakhon Sawan, and Sukothai provinces, police said.

Ms. Wanrat had been on the run from the authorities since 2006 and has amassed over 100 million baht from her fraud schemes, said Pol.Lt. Prasit Saengsala.

"I want to inform the public that scammers today have many tricks up their sleeves," Pol.Lt. Prasit said. "Sometimes they rely on merit-making and a sense of charity from honest people. They like to claim to have the backing of famous or important individuals, temples, and organisations."

He continued, "Please do not be fooled by these wrongdoers."

According to Pol.Lt. Prasit, Ms. Wanrat is thought to be a part of a larger group of conspirators and police are currently looking to identify other suspects.

Source: http://en.khaosod.co.th/detail.php?newsid=1409734380


-- Khaosod English 2014-09-03

[kkerry]

320 billion baht! That would have been some statue,,,

[chotthee]

Poor woman.

He needs her 2 meals a day, hence she was driven to it.

I hope that the state can just take care of her.

[Fiddlesticks]

She must be the poster child for the biggest scam of them all, 'The Great Thai Rice Scam'. Just love reading more and more about Thailand, LOS (Land of Scams). Perhaps a new tourist attraction could be to open school to teach the art of scamming much like the Thai cooking schools. Need to market the culture.

[Ragzilb]

320 billion baht! That would have been some statue,,,

yeah the statue of liberty would be a dwarf compared to the 320 million baht statue.

[ratcatcher]

320 billion baht! That would have been some statue,,,

yeah the statue of liberty would be a dwarf compared to the 320 million baht statue.

"....compared to the 320 million baht statue."

"...the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

[Upset]

OMG....compared to some of the stupid graduates (both local and foreign, with and without experience) that I have employed as business development execs in my various companies......this old woman would have been a gem......kidding of course! But really.....its amasing some of these conmen (or conwomen) have in terms of skills of persuasion and also a thick skin. Reminds me of a farang lady I know....who has no PR or Marketing experience, let alone that the local thai media hates here....who goes around masquareding as a experienced PR Practioner with her own company website....yet ends up conning all her clients and unable to give them any decent media coverages though she tries to market herself as a socialite. She is often in the company of a few other farang conmen including another who runs a printing and graphic cum marketing entity....often found here on TV.

[Misterwhisper]

Those cunning l'il old ladies! Beware!

[Prbkk]

40 years

[JeremyBowskill]

320 billion baht! That would have been some statue,,,

Glad you caught that KKerry, I skim read it the first time and read it as 320 million not billion. 320 billion would be quite some statue, wonder how she came to that figure....... or if it is anywhere near what it would cost to build a statue of that magnitude.

This would seemingly be the current biggest I believe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Temple_Buddha

Edited September 3, 2014 by JeremyBowskill

[ramrod711]

Ms. Wanrat also reportedly told residents that the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

If my math is correct, and I checked it twice, 1,000 workers earning 300 baht per day would have steady work for 2,922 years. That doesn't factor in the cost of the materials of course.

[Thai at Heart]

Ms. Wanrat also reportedly told residents that the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

If my math is correct, and I checked it twice, 1,000 workers earning 300 baht per day would have steady work for 2,922 years. That doesn't factor in the cost of the materials of course.

She was looking at it in the long term

[harryfrompattaya]

Poor woman.

He needs her 2 meals a day, hence she was driven to it.

I hope that the state can just take care of her.

She was just to old to get a Farang Husband what ashamed she would have done it legally if she found one

[Paulzed]

She has just been promised the new Priministers position, in the next Thaksin funded proxy government.

the next iron lady of the shin organisation

Edited September 3, 2014 by Paulzed

[FangFerang]

They say if you lie, then lie BIG. People would love to make merit on the biggest statue ever created. The sadly funny thing is the Buddha told them not to build temples...and that if someone does something to make merit, it has no merit. Only pure motives gain merit. Doing something because it is correct is merit. Doing something to gain merit is ...NEGATIVE merit.

Nobody reads the books...they read interpretations.

[Thaimaishoe]

Ms. Wanrat also reportedly told residents that the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

If my math is correct, and I checked it twice, 1,000 workers earning 300 baht per day would have steady work for 2,922 years. That doesn't factor in the cost of the materials of course.

You didn't factor in Executive pay and incentive bonuses... if you do that it means 1,000 workers can work for 0 hours, with no cost of materials needed!

[borisloosebrain]

Way to go mama. Scamming is a national pursuit and you excel at it

[Misterwhisper]

L'il old lady only took to her heart what generations of crooked politicians have taught her and an entire nation. "If they all do it all the time, it can't be bad."

[halloween]

I look at it as 64 million Thais making an average donation of B5000.

The rumour that she was Thaksin's nanny is probably untrue.

[Artisi]

Ms. Wanrat also reportedly told residents that the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

If my math is correct, and I checked it twice, 1,000 workers earning 300 baht per day would have steady work for 2,922 years. That doesn't factor in the cost of the materials of course.

You forgot to factor in the inflation effect, that will reduce the build time somewhat

[h90]

Ms. Wanrat also reportedly told residents that the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

If my math is correct, and I checked it twice, 1,000 workers earning 300 baht per day would have steady work for 2,922 years. That doesn't factor in the cost of the materials of course.

If you make it from gold and decorate it with diamonds the situation would look very different than if made from bricks and concrete.

[Loles]

That's a well known fact the Chinese are so smart in Bangkok

[DrLom]

I have the Lord Buddha's foot metatarsals in my garage.... for real.

Any ideas on the going price?

[bapoboy]

She must be the poster child for the biggest scam of them all, 'The Great Thai Rice Scam'. Just love reading more and more about Thailand, LOS (Land of Scams). Perhaps a new tourist attraction could be to open school to teach the art of scamming much like the Thai cooking schools. Need to market the culture.

bla bla bla

[iReason]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

She must be the poster child for the biggest scam of them all, 'The Great Thai Rice Scam'. Just love reading more and more about Thailand, LOS (Land of Scams). Perhaps a new tourist attraction could be to open school to teach the art of scamming much like the Thai cooking schools. Need to market the culture.

LOL.

Land of Lies.

[ezzra]

I'm urgently appealing to people of all walks of life to donate to my worthy charity, and yes,

that's the name of my new boat....

[Geordie59]

Surely with 100 million Bhat she can afford to pay her way out of this!

[atyclb]

Ms. Wanrat also reportedly told residents that the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

If my math is correct, and I checked it twice, 1,000 workers earning 300 baht per day would have steady work for 2,922 years. That doesn't factor in the cost of the materials of course.

Looks like the US Common core curriculum has been in place in thailand for a while and is working, no need to test anymore.

[monkey4u]

Ms. Wanrat also reportedly told residents that the construction would cost 320 billion baht.

If my math is correct, and I checked it twice, 1,000 workers earning 300 baht per day would have steady work for 2,922 years. That doesn't factor in the cost of the materials of course.

Jobs for her family perhaps

[monkey4u]

She looks like a sweet Granny

If you cant trust her Who are you going to trust