Maj Gen Sermphan Sirikong, Commander of the Phuket Provincial Police, ordered officers to take action after a post on TikTok by “Noom_Boriphan” warned people of the Chinese woman repeatedly soliciting money from people by saying she needed the money to pay for petrol.
The post showed images of the woman, later identified by police as Fan Yang, 47, repeatedly approaching people to ask for, and receiving money, from good-natured people. The images were captured at the PTT petrol station on the bypass road.
The woman told her victims that she would repay the money later through her online banking transfer.
Officers tracked the woman to The Trees Club Resort Phuket in Moo 5, Kamala, where she was staying.
After checking her passport, officers confirmed that Fan had overstayed by 1,316 days. She was taken to Kamala Police Station and charged with illegally staying in the country, police confirmed.
Under the ‘Good guys in, Bad guys out’ policy brought into effect in 2016, which immigration officers have recently started vigilantly reinforcing, foreigners caught and arrested for overstay of more than one year face a fine of B500 a day overstay, up to a maximum of B20,000 ‒ and face deportation and being blacklisted from re-entering the country for 10 years.
In their report, police made no mention of action against the resort where she was staying for having a foreign guest who was illegally staying in the country.
JohnC | 20 December 2022 - 09:53:07