Thais don’t con anybody, it’s always the foreigners, a leading chief of provincial police made the extraordinary statement that he had never seen a case of a Thai ripping off a fellow Thai.
It was always foreigners who were responsible, said Region One chief Pol Gen Amphon Buarapporn.
The commander was quoted by Sanook as he investigated a case against a 53-year-old Chonburi man who met wealthy widows on Facebook and conned them out of money through blackmail.
Erawan, 53, is helping police with their inquiries after his arrest in Uthai district of Ayuthaya.
The case came to light after a 58-year-old woman called Sanong, from Nakorn Ratchasima, was reported missing by her son. Some 150,000 baht had also been taken out of her account.
It has emerged that Erawan met Sanong on Facebook and arranged to take her to a hotel in Saraburi. She was later hit with a hammer and abandoned in Samut Sakhon.
The money was taken from her ATM account.
Sanook said that sources all confirmed that Erawan preyed on wealthy widows and former civil servants of good financial means who he met on various platforms on Facebook and dating sites.
They said that the Thai tricked the women then filmed them having sex with him for the purposes of blackmailing them. His many victims would not dare go to the authorities for fear of the shame.
Region 1 chief General Amphon was quoted as saying that he had never heard of a case where a Thai had conned a Thai – it was always foreigners who did the ripping off in his experience.
It was not sure whether he was referring to just romance scams and related criminal activities on the internet or crime in general.
He warned his compatriots to watch out for everyone they met online.
