Samut Sakhon man arrested for doctoring photos to spread fake news
Suspect arrested for allegedly creating and sharing doctored images of politicians and celebrities, including ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra and his daughter PM Paetongtarn
Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) officers arrested a 51-year-old man in Samut Sakhon on Friday for allegedly doctoring images of politicians and celebrities to use in fake news and sharing it on social media.
The officers raided the house of the suspect, identified as Nirutti Rawaisaman, in Samut Sakhon’s Tha Sai subdistrict. During the raid, they also confiscated two mobile phones and a tablet, which reportedly contained altered images of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Pol Lt-General Trairong Phiwphan, the CCIB chief, said Thaksin’s attorney had filed a complaint alleging that doctored images of the former PM and his daughter, incumbent Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, had been circulated in fake news articles on the Facebook page “lm.peliyn.this.14326”.
The page reportedly posted doctored photos of Thaksin, Paetongtarn and several celebrities along with false or misleading information, some of which were for comedic purposes, Trairong said.
He added that such posts had been widely shared, leading to public confusion and harming the reputations of those depicted.
Investigators eventually traced the Facebook page to Nirutti’s residence, where they found additional retouched images of politicians and celebrities on his computer.
Nirutti reportedly admitted to running the Facebook page and doctoring the images. He now faces multiple charges under the Computer-Related Crimes Act of 2017, including uploading images of others onto a public computer system, altering images of others in a way that can damage their reputation and uploading images of others in a way that can cause them to be isolated, despised or embarrassed.
These offences carry penalties of up to three years in prison and/or a fine of up to 60,000 baht.
