Danish man arrested in 20 Million Baht scam
A foreign man has been arrested on suspicion of being the leader behind a tourist scam gang, tricking tourists with fake hotel bookings.
A man from Denmark, along with four Thai suspects, allegedly cheated more than 400 foreign would-be tourists out of hotel stays in Thailand via a scam website that collected money in advance for hotel bookings that were not legitimate.
The Thai tourist police announced last Wednesday that they arrested Dane Jacob Holm Schultz, 43, for cheating Westerners with fake hotel bookings via the website www.vacasianhotel.com, which is now shown to be under construction, reported Thai PBS.
Tourist Police deputy commissioner Pol. Maj. Gen. Surachet Hakparn, said that the Danish man allegedly ran his hotel booking scam site and had four Thais working with him. One of them was allegedly Chantee Lomsak, 36, and her bank account received the international money transfers from “customers.”
Pol. Maj. Gen. Surachet said that the scam ring had been under investigation for a long time and that the investigation began after police began receiving complaints from people who had been scammed by the site.
The scam had been operating for more than two years and had allegedly defrauded vacationers of more than THB20 million. The officer also said the money was withdrawn from Chantee’s alleged account and given to Schultz.
The foreigner has been charged with public fraud and will be blacklisted from the country.
Source: Coconuts
