A close aide to Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda has filed a complaint that his Facebook account was hacked and a photo of him and the statesman has been used for fraud.
Cdr Surithichai Khlai-udom, who was using the photo as his profile picture, told Bangkok Yai police in Bangkok on Thursday that messages that appeared to have come from him were sent to his friends, seeking financial assistance.
In response, a friend transferred 8,000 baht to a bank account which actually belonged to a woman, he said.
Cdr Surithichai, 47, said the fraud happened after he used the photo as the profile picture and he had since changed it.
"I believe that when I used the picture which had been taken long ago, I became targeted because some party with ill intention might want to discredit him and his close aides," Cdr Surithichai said, referring to Gen Prem.
He said that he had been a close aide to Gen Prem, 98, for about 30 years and used to be his photographer.
Cdr Surithichai, currently an education chief at the Administration School of the Naval Administration Department, said he still kept Gen Prem company during his exercise at his residence.
