Mr Autchariya Ruangrattanaphong, head of the “Help Crime Victim Club” Facebok group and more than 15 victims reported to police at 10:30am yesterday that they had been conned by the “Pumpuy Apple Shop - Sarika Linthong”, run by a Ms Sumalee Lertwilai and which sells various religious artifacts via Facebook.
The complaint was received by Deputy Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police Col Witoon Kongsudjai together with Chalong Police Chief Col Prachum Rueanthong.
One of the amulet sellers said to have been conned by Ms Sumalee, Ms Praweenuch Janprasert, 33, told police “I saw the Pumpuy Apple Shop - Sarika Linthong Facebook page ago several years ago, the page sells various religious artifacts.
”One of the amulets I was interested in, the Salika Linthong from Myanmar and made of Agor and Amber woods, I bought for B3,900.
“After buying that amulet I discovered that the Facebook page was looking for sellers in provinces around the country, so I applied to be a seller in Phuket and paid B35,918 to do so.
“After making the payment I received the Sarika Linthong and other artifacts,” Ms Praweenuch explained.
“An admin from the Facebook page then contacted me and asked me to be a VIP seller. But this meant I would have to pay B200,000 and in return I would receive more artifacts.
“I paid the required fee as there are many people in Phuket interesting in buying these artifacts.
“The page then offered a promotion where if we opened a shop they would send more artifacts, but this would come at a cost of B1 million,” Ms Praweenuch added.
“I went ahead with the promotion but was later informed by the Facebook admins that I had broken their rules as I had placed some artifacts in frames. They said that this meant they are no longer the same artifacts sold by that page.
“I was kicked out from the group,” Ms Praweenuch said.
Mr Autchariya said, “After Ms Praweenuch contacted us we made investigations and found that the Sarika Linthong were not as described by this Facebook page. They were not made with Agor and Amber woods as stated.
“We also found that there are more than 100 victims of this scam in Thailand and more than 10 victims in Phuket so we handed all our evidence to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on July 12,” Mr Autchariya noted.
“We also reported this to Mr Prasong Poonthanet, Director-General of the Revenue Department on July 17 and requested he check these people for tax payments as we believe they have taken in the region of B500mn from various people around Thailand,” Mr Autchariya added.
Ms Praweenuch added, “I have lost B8mn in seven months. There are many more victims in the country and they should report the issue to their local police.”
Col Witoon said, “Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Theeraphol Thipjaroen ordered me to look after these victims. I have asked investigators to questioning the victims, of which there are many.
“From the evidence we have received there are two illegal issues, fraud and breaking the Computer Crime Act, we will continue with our investigation carefully,” Col Witoon added.