Woman arrested in visa extension scam for allegedly cheating Myanmar workers
Police raided a passport extension agency and arrested the house owner in Samut Prakarn province for allegedly swindling nearly Bt6 million from 300 migrant labourers.
At 6pm on Friday, police from Muang Samut Prakarn searched a house in Bangchalong subdistrict, Bang Phli district, after a lawyer filed a police complaint against the owner of the house for allegedly cheating more than 300 migrant labourers from Myanmar with promises of visas for them to work in Thailand.
Atchariya Reungrattanaphong, lawyer and president of Crime Victim Assistance Association, said that a group of migrant workers had contacted him to look into their case. “The agency had collected a fee of Bt19,600 per person but had yet to deliver the promised services, or refund their money, which totals almost Bt6 million,” he said.
At the house, police found Wassana (last name withheld), aged 45 years, who said she was the house owner. Police notified the fraud charge and placed her under arrest, as well as seized all the documents and other evidence found in the house.
Wassana reportedly denied the charge and said that she was not the person responsible for the visa extension operation.
Police are reviewing the documents seized from the house, which are mostly receipts and some passports, to track the money trail down to other conspirators.