By The Phuket News:
Phuket police have arrested two members of a gang of con artists who are believed to have cheated people in Phuket and other parts of Thailand out of as much as THB20 million.
The pair were tracked down and arrested on Bangla Rd in Patong at about 11 pm on Sunday morning. The two are Wasan Chuthong, 30, from Surat Thani, Tiwalai “Su” Pasut, 59, from Nakorn Sri Thammarat. Both are members, police said, of a group of con artists who styled themselves “Gang Kwai” (Buffalo Gang) – a reference to the supposed stupidity of their victims.
Police began to search for the gang after a complaint was made by a victim to Phuket City Police Station. When police checked against national records they found that there were already outstanding warrants for their arrests.
Wasan was wanted for scams involving about THB15 million in Bo Phut, in Surat Thani, and in Ranong. Tiwalai was wanted for her part in conning a victim out of THB1.3 million in Prachuap Khiri Khan province.
Police said that the gang would target people advertising their houses for sale. Pretending to be brokers, members of the gang would contact the house seller. They would offer to take the victim to meet a “buyer”, a rich person who would pay cash for the house.
At the meeting place, however, it would turn out that the “buyer” was “delayed”. The gang would then persuade the victim through a mixture of persuasion and threats, to play cards “while we wait”. Being consummate card sharks they would then take all the victim’s money, or put them in a situation where the victim owed them large amounts – which would have to be repaid immediately by a visit to the bank, escorted by the con artists.
Investigators said they are concentrating on catching the other three or four members of the gang. Victims cannot expect to get their money back, police added – the gang would spend the money as fast as they got it on living the high life.
Late last month it was reported by The Phuket News that local resident Tanya Kitti was approached by scam artists posing as real estate agents, who she says tried to trick her into playing mah jong, putting her house and its chanote title up as the prize for the winners.
However, after being shown pictures of the two this evening, Mrs Tanya said she did not recognise either of them. It appears that there is at least one other "card playing" gang at work in Phuket.
This story was first published by The Phuket News and is reproduced as part of an editorial partnership between The Phuket News and DDproperty.com.
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