CHIANG RAI– On Thursday, it was revealed that a Veterans Association and several other people in Chiang Rai lost money after being invited to invest in lottery quotas. The person encouraging them to join claimed they would earn between 3,000 and 5,000 baht per box.
Later, the organizer said the Government lottery tickets had been stolen and then disappeared, leaving the victims out of pocket. Losses in this scam have reached more than 10 million baht.
Mr Thanatchan, 60, from Pa Or Don Chai, Chiang Rai, explained that he was an association member handling fundraising for the Chiang Rai Veterans Association. Early last year, he met a man known as Mr Wut while exercising.
Over time, Mr Wut told him he could access government lottery quotas and offered to share them. He said Thanatchan would get a share of about 3,000 to 5,000 baht per box, with each box containing 100 tickets.
Thanatchan was interested in both personal income and raising funds for the veterans’ association.
At first, Mr Wut said there were no quotas for veterans, but he could get some from friends, who each held two boxes. The original owners wanted to sell, so Thanatchan used his savings to buy in. Mr Wut soon encouraged him to increase his investment.
The total money transferred back and forth grew to over 5 million baht, including loans he took out to join.
Thanatchan said that during his involvement, he only saw the real lottery tickets once, during the first meeting. After that, he just transferred money while Mr Wut claimed he was selling the tickets.
About five months later, Mr Wut contacted him again, saying someone had stolen the tickets and that the case was being handled in Kanchanaburi, even though the quotas were meant to come from Chiang Rai contacts. This made Thanatchan suspicious.
He spoke to friends and found out that Mr Wut and three others had persuaded several people to invest in the same way. Five known victims, including Thanatchan, lost a total of about 10 million baht, but he suspects there are many more victims.
Thanatchan has now filed a police report with Lt. Panjanat Suthasiwong at Muang Chiang Rai Police Station since 29 November 2023 and has since provided more evidence and witnesses.
After realizing he had been scammed, Thanatchan tried to contact Mr Wut, but he disappeared and ignored police requests to meet. Thanatchan even visited Mr Wut’s home nearby, but never found him.
He has noticed activity from Mr Wut on social media but has not managed to speak to him again. Thanatchan now hopes police will fully investigate and hold Mr Wut and his group responsible for fraud.
