Retiree land-scam ‘gang’ busted

Department commander Maitree Chimcherd told a press conference on Friday that the three suspects belonged to the same gang and they used the same tactic to con victims to give them cash.
The three suspects were identified as Charoen Ketthong, 63, Somporn Nithinoraset, 61, and Thanissorn Tippayakulwisit, 62.
They were arrested at the same house in Pathum Thani's Lad Lumkaew district on Thursday.
Maitree said the three invited their victims to accompany them to witness land buying from the gang's accomplices and they pretended to be short of money and borrowed from the victims, promising to give a bigger sum in return as commissions.
In the latest crime, Charoen was accused of cheating a victim out of Bt70,000 in Angthong. Charoen pretended to buy a land from an accomplice but he said he fell short of Bt70,000 to pay to a gold shop where the plot of land was mortgaged and he promised to give Bt200,000 to the victim.
After the victim withdrew the cash from a Krung Thai bank, Charoen disappeared.
Maitree said Somporn and Thanissorn were accused of cheating a victim of Bt300,000 with a promise of giving them Bt400,000 in return. Again, they pretended to be about to buy land and fell short of Bt300,000 to pay for the cancellation of a mortgage.
Maitree said Charoen was wanted on three arrest warrants issued by the Angthong court last May, by the Sing Buri court in February 2017 and by the Saraburi court in October 2017.
Somporn was wanted on three arrest warrants, issued by the Prachuap Khiri Khan court in 2012 and 2013 and by Songkhla court in July last year.
Thanissorn was wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the Prachuap Khiri Khan court in 2012.