An apartment broker has been arrested on fraud charges for allegedly swindling prospective tenants, both Thais and foreigners, and landlords out of 2.5 million baht.
Pawinee Krainoonsing, 31, was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the Bangkok South Criminal Court on April 30. She was apprehended at a house in Bangkok on Thursday, said Pol Lt Gen Piya Uthano, assistant national police chief, during a media briefing on Friday.
The arrest followed complaints by tenants that Ms Pawinee had duped them into paying rent deposits and fled after the payments were made. The broker also removed advertisements she had put on social media to attract customers.
A police investigation found that Ms Pawinee had asked prospective tenants to sign rental contracts and then asked them to pay deposits. However, she did not give the money to the room owners. The losses incurred by tenants and landlords totalled about 2.5 million baht, police said.
Police say Ms Pawinee had earlier duped a Chinese woman into paying a fine of 110,000 baht for an immigration offence that turned out to be bogus.
Tian Xin, 31, signed a two-year rental contract with Ms Pawinee but later cancelled the agreement and asked for her deposit back. She subsequently received a Line message from the broker with an official-looking letter attached. Ms Pawinee said the letter was from the Immigration Bureau, saying the Chinese woman owed a fine of 110,000 baht for violating the conditions of her stay.
However, the letter turned out to be fake, prompting the woman to seek help from the tourist police.
