Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police have arrested a former army sergeant on charges of counterfeiting and using counterfeit official documents and fraud, for allegedly hiring luxurious cars from car hire services and then selling them to used car dealers using the falsified documentation.
Pol Lt-Col Surachet Dechaphan, deputy superintendent of the 3rd subdivision of the CSD, said today (Saturday) that the suspect, identified only as “Jesada”, had tricked several car hire services into renting 12 luxurious cars to him, worth about 76 million baht, which he and his associates later sold to used car dealers.
Three used car hire services have already filed complaints with the CSD, claiming that the cars they had rented out to Jesada have not been returned and the man could not be located.
According to Surachet, before renting a luxurious car, the suspect would research information about the car’s owner and then, together with an associate who appeared to be financially credible, would approach the car hire service.
After renting the car, he and his associate would use falsified documents to claim ownership of the car and sell it.
The suspect claimed that he used some of the proceeds from the car sales to pay back some of his army friends, whom he allegedly duped into investing in a venture with a promise to pay them 5% interest on monthly basis.
21 investors have lodged complaints with the Economic Crime Suppression Division, accusing Jesada of cheating them out of their investment, according to Pol Col Weerapong Klaithong, superintendent of the 4th subdivision of the CSD.
50 people have allegedly been duped by Jesada into investing about 15 million baht in his business, he added.
Nine of the 12 cars have already been recovered, according to Pol Lt-Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau.
He said that police will investigate whether the used car dealers, who bought the luxury cars from Jesada, were aware that the suspect was not the real owner or that the official documents used in the transactions were fake.
He also said that a few of the cars might have been sold on the black market.
The CIB commissioner said that police have checked Jesada’s now empty bank accounts and found about 200 million baht in historical transactions.
